Spartans Never Die
by AlphaGuardian
Summary: After Carter sacrifices himself to ensure that Nobles 4 and 6 can deliver a package to the Pillar of Autumn, Six receives a transmission with no one on the other end. When he traces it, he is lead to the Scarab that Carter destroyed. What he finds there takes him, Emile and an old friend on a journey to stop the Covenant. Starts at the end of Reach, jumps to halo 2 and ends with H4
1. Chapter 1

Spartans Never Die By: AlphaGuardian

Chapter 1: End of the Road

Planet Reach, August 30, 2552, Near Azzod Shipyards.

Carter, S-259, Noble 1, looked out of the viewport of his critically damaged Pelican dropship and saw Covenant assault platform, or Scarab, near where he knew that Nobles 4 and 6 were. He knew they would not be able to outrun it; they had left the Mongoose ATV they were driving behind when they had entered the cave they were in now, and they didn't have the firepower to destroy it, which left only one option.

Noble 4, Emile saw a comm channel open from Carter, "Noble 1 to Nobles 4 and 6, you've got company." "What kind of company?" his last remaining teammate on the ground, Noble Six, said. Emile looked up and saw Scarab bearing down on them. He keyed the comm channel "We can handle it, sir." "Not without my help."

Noble Six was worried. Here he was carrying an unknown AI which Dr. Halsey, the genius behind the SPARTAN program, had called "Humanity's best chance for survival", and he couldn't get it to where it needed to be, the UNSC _Pillar of Autumn_. He looked at the Scarab, and then saw something out of the corner of his eye; Carter was flying his Pelican on a collision course for the Scarab. He knew Carter would not survive; he had been wounded when a Fuel Rod explosive had detonated in front of the dropship, the detonation had caused a large shard of glass from the viewport to puncture his armor just above his ribcage. He saw the Scarab start to power up its main plasma cannon, and knew he was about to fail his mission.

Six was about to key the comm channel when he heard Carter say, "You're on your own, Noble, Carter out." The dropship hurtled into the Scarab and impacted, the force detonating the fuel reserves in the Pelican as well as the reactor in the Scarab, destroying the dropship and causing the Scarab to collapse and blow up.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2: Pillar of Autumn

Planet Reach, August 30, 2552, Azzod Shipyard

Noble Six saw a comm channel open in his HUD; it was from the _Pillar of Autumn_, "Noble Four, this is Captain Keyes of the UNSC_ Pillar of Autumn_; I can't wait much longer for that package, what's your ETA to the shipyard?" "We're here, Captain. Just say where we need to be and we'll be there."

He didn't hear Captain Keyes' response because an Elite General blindsided him. The General pulled an energy dagger and prepared to stab him, but a blade appeared through its throat and the Elite was unceremoniously thrown aside. Emile had saved his life. "Come on Six, we have to get to Platform Delta ASAP."

He noticed that the container holding the AI had broken. He put the chip in his helmet, remarking, "The captain won't be pleased to see this." "He'll be pleased to see me in one piece." He heard the voice through his helmet speakers, but couldn't find the comm channel. "Who said that?" Emile looked at him and cocked his head questioningly, "who said what?" The voice spoke again, saying "Me, of course. I'm Cortana, the package Dr. Halsey gave you." "Good to know." He looked at Emile, "it was the package, an AI called Cortana." We need to get moving, Six."

When Six looked at the General that had nearly killed him, he saw Emile's kukri sticking out of its throat. "Don't you want your knife?" Emile walked over to the Elite and pulled his kukri from its resting place. "I do, now let's go." Six noticed a comm channel in his visor, but heard nothing. Emile looked at him, "Six, what's up?" "Nothing, just a comm channel with no one on the other end." "Strange, but we need to keep moving, the Captain's already at the platform. We're not."

They hurried to the platform and found Keyes waiting on a Pelican. "Good to see you, Spartans. I'm sorry about the deaths of your teammates. They'll be remembered. Where's the package?" Before Six could pull the chip out of his helmet, the comm system in the Pelican chimed, "_Pillar of Autumn_ to Captain Keyes, we've got a CCS Class Cruiser moving to intercept our escape." Captain Keyes pulled out a small pipe and twirled it in his fingers. "Alright then. Spartans, there's a Mass Driver Cannon on the other side of this complex, one of you needs to man it and take that Cruiser down."

Before Six could say anything, Emile walked up and put a hand on his shoulder, "I'll man the Cannon, you get to the _Autumn _and get out of here." Emile sprinted to the Cannon and manned it before Six could say anything. Six keyed the comm channel to Emile. He used the team frequency even though no one else was alive to hear it, "Good luck, Emile, Six out."

The ghost channel popped up again, except this time Six could see that it was on the team frequency. It sounded garbled and filled with static, but it was there, "…One to…Six …read?" "Cortana, can you trace the source of that transmission?" "Already on it. I'll mark it on your HUD when I find it." About ten seconds later, an arrow appeared on Six's HUD. He overlaid a map of the area on it, and found that the signal was coming from a position just south of where Carter had sacrificed himself to destroy the Scarab.

**Authors Note- Sorry for the short first chapter and lack of AN on 1****st**** chapter. I did not know how to add AN's until after I had published the chapter. On the topic of the short chapter, I was going to add more but I didn't want to give anything away, but if you read the summary, you may have already guessed what was going to happen anyway. I will try to update at least once every 2 weeks but I don't have access to the internet all the time. Again, sorry for the short chapter and lack of author notes.**


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3: Revelation

Planet Reach, August 30, 2552, Azzod Shipyard, Landing Platform Delta, 1930 Hours

Six keyed the comm channel to Emile, who was operating the Mass Driver Cannon in order to destroy a CCS-Class Cruiser that was blocking the UNSC _Pillar of Autumn_'s escape from Reach, "Emile, it's Six. That ghost comm channel I told you about, Cortana just traced it, and found that it came from about where we encountered that Scarab." "Yeah, so what, exactly?" "I think it might be Carter." "There's no way he survived that." "There's no one else who has access to our team comm channel. It has to be him."

Captain Keyes walked over. "Spartan, we need to leave now if we want to get out of here without becoming glass." Six turned and looked at the Captain. "I have reason to believe that my commander is alive. I need to stay and find him." "Alright, Spartan, I'll leave one of my Pelicans here in case you do find him, but it will leave in one standard hour. Along with the _Autumn_. After that, you need to find another ride."

Cortana took over Six's PA system, "Captain, Covenant dropships on approach, Phantom-Class. They appear to be aiming for the Mass Driver." Six keyed the comm to Emile, "Emile, you've got company!" "Roger, Six." Six looked to where the Phantoms were coming in from and saw three that were in a straight line go up in flames right after he heard a bang from the Cannon. Two more were destroyed by the explosion and three more bought the farm from the debris. "Six, go look for Carter, I'll handle this."

Six removed Cortana's chip from his helmet and handed it to the Captain. Keyes took it and held out his other hand, "Good luck, Noble, I hope you find your commander." Six shook his hand, then saluted as Keyes walked back into the dropship. As the dropship lifted off, Six stooped down, picked up his MA-37 Assault Rifle and DMR then walked off to find Sierra- 259.

As Captain Keyes walked into the crew compartment of the Pelican, the Marines all looked at him. One stood up and said, "Sir, was it right to just send him off on his own?" Keyes looked at him and said "He's a Spartan. Spartans never die." "I know that, Sir, but shouldn't we have at least sent a few Marines to help him, and a Falcon in case his commander is wounded and can't walk back to the pad?" Keyes looked the young Corporal dead in the eyes and said, "Normally I would call that insubordination," The Corporal's face drained of all color. "but in this case, you're right. When we get back to the Autumn I'll have Falcons ready to bring them to the landing pad."

**Authors Notes- I have a question for all you reading out there: what do you want to see in the story? Characters? Places? Events? Do you want the story to extend beyond the end of Halo 3? PM me your ideas for the story and I will see what I can do. No guarantees, but I will try. Also, this may be my last frequent update. I may not have a consistent WI-FI network to upload from. Sorry. But like I said after chapter 2, I will try to update at least once every 2 weeks. Please rate and review: this is my first fanfic, and I want to know how I am doing. Be as honest as necessary without flaming. Chapter 4 Comes As Soon as I Finish It. Which is, if I have WI-FI, tomorrow, 8-5-13.**


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4: Noble 1

Noble Six arrived at the destroyed Scarab. What he saw made him doubt that Carter had survived: the Pelican's fore section was imbedded in the Scarab, and the rest was just… gone. There were no parts lying around. Six keyed the comm system, "Commander, this is Noble Six; I'm at the crash site. Where are you?" He could hear a faint reply, but couldn't make out any words. "Commander, I didn't copy. Say again." This time he could hear the reply, "Six, this is Carter, I'm in the cockpit of the Pelican, but the door's jammed, and I can't get it open with one arm." "One arm, sir? How bad are your injuries?" "My left arm and right leg are broken, and I have multiple broken ribs. My biometer was fried in the explosion so I can't tell you anything else for certain."

Another comm channel opened in Six's visor, "Noble Six, this is Captain Keyes; we have a group of Falcons en route to extract you and your commander and return you to the landing pad. Noble Four is with the Falcons and a group of marines to assist in exfil." "Thank you, sir." Six climbed the wrecked Scarab and reached the fore section of the Pelican, pried open the cockpit door, and walked in. "Good to see you, Six. I thought you had left before I contacted you the first time." "Commander, There is a group of Falcons about," He checked his map. "a minute out, we are going to get you to the Pillar of Autumn, and we'll get you patched up and back to combat-ready."

Another comm channel opened, this time from a different source, "Noble Six, this is Captain Andrew Del Rio of the UNSC Antietam. We were assigned by the Office of Naval Intelligence to aid the Autumn however we could. The Falcons Captain Keyes sent are still taking you to the landing pad, but we have a Pelican on the landing pad to bring you to our ship, and we'll take you and your team back to Earth for medical treatment." "Copy, Captain."

Six helped Carter up out of the pilot's seat of the Pelican, careful not to jar Carter's arm or leg against anything, and led him out to the edge of the debris. "Six, how do you suppose we're going to get down?" Six looked up and saw the Falcons coming in. "We're not." He grabbed a flare from one of his pockets and ignited it, signaling his position to the Falcons. "Six, it's Emile. We see the flare and are coming in to pick you up. How's Carter?" "He's alive, but his left arm and right leg are broken and his biometer's fried, so I don't know anything else." One of the Falcons broke off from the rest and headed toward the wreckage. When it came to a hover near the remains of the Pelican, Six helped Carter in, and when he was, Emile keyed the comm to the pilot, "let's go, Lieutenant. Back to the platform."

When they returned to the platform, a man who looked like a Captain stepped out, but he wore the insignia of a Commander, like Carter. "Good to see you, Spartans. Tom Laskey, Second Officer on the Antietam. Never thought I'd see Spartans up close and in person. We should get going, the Captain is expecting you two," he pointed at Emile and Six. "and he wants you, Commander to report immediately to the medbay for assessment." The Pelican lifted off as the group entered, taking them to the _Antietam_. When they arrived in the hangar bay, a group of medical technicians helped Carter to the Medbay while Laskey, Emile, and Six went to the bridge to see Captain Del Rio.

**Authors Notes- We're almost to the "good" parts of the book. I'm thinking chapter 7 is where I'll begin the H2 part of the book, but it may begin as early as chapter 6. Depends on how long the next part takes. What do you guys think of the book? What do you like about it? What don't you like? What do you want to see in the book? To adapt a quote from the Prophet of Truth: "Your enjoyment of this book is the will of the Gods. And I… I am their instrument." Please rate and review, and PM me your ideas for the book.**


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5: Recovery

**Authors Caution- This chapter is a recount of the events of Halo: Reach, save for Lone Wolf, and the end of Pillar of Autumn, obviously. This will be very boring. Please bear with me. The real action starts next chapter. Now to the Notes. I have read your reviews, both of them, and Jun will be included later on in the book. Please, please, please, review. Rate as well, but mostly review. Thanks. Also, do you want Noble team to stay on Earth after the New Mombasa Slipspace Event and go through the events of H3: ODST with the Squad, or do you want them to go with John to Delta Halo? PM or review with your opinions and I will tally the votes and post results in the AN's of the chapter before Regret leaves Earth. Also, I need Beta-Readers. It would be greatly appreciated. I need criticizers more than anything right now. Also we have topped 600 views. Yay! I never expected the book to be this popular in just 5 days. Thank you for your support. Please rate and review.**

When the group entered the bridge of the _Antietam_, everyone turned to look. Noble Six felt more than a little nervous about having so much notice. Captain Del Rio turned to address the group. "Commander Laskey, return to your station. Spartans, follow me." Laskey turned and walked over to one of the terminals. The Spartans followed the Captain to his personal quarters for debriefing. When they arrived, Captain Del Rio motioned the two Spartans to sit on the other side of his desk.

"Noble Four, tell me what happened on Reach." "Sir, Six would be able to better relate the events than me." "Very well. Noble Six, tell me what happened." "Sir, It all started with an investigation into the disabling of the Visegrad Relay Outpost, which our Commander, Colonel Holland, believed was disabled by Insurrectionists. When we were investigating the area around the outpost, due to a group of farmers saying that 'something in the fields, killed their son', we were engaged by a small patrol of Grunts and Skirmishers. After advancing further up to find a group of missing UNSC Army Troopers, we were engaged by a group of four Elite Ultras. We eventually found the troopers, and aided them in holding of multiple Spirit and Phantom dropships dropping off waves of troops."

"After we held them off, two Falcons came and extracted us, Me, Carter and Jorge, Noble 5, and took us to the Relay, where Kat, Noble 2, and Emile here were trying to cut through the inner door to the entrance to the Outpost, during which they were holding off more Covenant forces. After we landed and fought off more covenant, Kat managed to get the door opened, and we all, save Jun, Noble 3, entered the Outpost. Inside, we found a group of troopers that had been attacked and split by Elites. Jorge found a civilian scientist, and I found an encrypted data chip of some sort. The wires had been burned by plasma weaponry and were rendered inoperable. We were shortly thereafter attacked by a group of Elite Zealots, and in the skirmish I was nearly killed by one, saved by the actions of Carter. Me and Jorge were sent to find and kill the Zealots, while the rest stayed behind. After we had secured the station, I reset a junction that Kat wanted me to and returned to where we were ambushed. We then left the relay."

"The team was then diverted from our then-present course to ONI: Sword Base to repel a Covenant attack on the base. Kat and I were dropped to repel the assault on the front doors of the base. After that, we were sent to activate a radio antenna and an AA Gun. Once we had done that, were directed back to Sword Base because the covenant had found another way into the base. I was directed to help Emile repel Phantoms and Banshees that were landing troops through a breach in the walls. After that, we met with Dr. Catherine Halsey, who turned out to be Jorge's mother, to discuss the recent events at the Visegrad Relay Outpost. Kat gave her the data chip that was found on one of the bodies."

"Jun and I were then sent to recon a covenant held area called the "Dark Zone", where our recon satellites could not see. We encountered resistance before we reached the Zone, and we helped defend a group of militia that had not evacuated. They were defending cases of weapons that had been smuggled into the facility. They then showed us a route to a hydro-electric plant through a riverbed because the main gate did not work. Near the plant, we found the source of the dark zone, a covenant pylon which created a field that disallows any UNSC scanning equipment. While Jun set up an explosive charge to destroy it, me and the militia defended him against a pair of Hunters and a team of Spec-Ops Elites. Pushing further into the Dark Zone, we found a Covenant Corvette and a huge landing zone where the Covenant were deploying their troops. Kat recalled all teams and told us to prepare for the next day."

"After our recon mission, Noble Team helped a Marine force destroy 2 AA guns to clear the way to another pylon. Once we had neutralized the AA gun, Jorge and I boarded a Falcon and went to find a pylon that was protecting the area from our forces. The Falcon was disabled as it crossed the energy field and crashed, killing all but me and Jorge. We neutralized the shield around the pylon and were extracted shortly before the pylon was shot by a MAC round from the _Grafton_. Shortly afterward, the ship was split in two by a Glassing Beam from a Covenant Assault Carrier."

"Noble Team regrouped in a cave nearby. Kat devised a plan to go to the Sabre program launch facility and send two of us to help destroy the Carrier. Since I was a Sabre test pilot, I was chosen, and Jorge went with me to infiltrate a Corvette that was to go to the Carrier to refuel. We planned to use a Slipspace drive to destroy the corvette and Carrier remotely, but during a firefight in the corvette's hangar bay, the timer on the "bomb" and the dropship's engines were damaged. Jorge stayed behind and manually detonated the bomb after he threw me out of the hangar bay. Moments after the bomb detonated, a massive Covenant fleet entered the system."

"I landed near the city of New Alexandria. After hiking to the city, I linked up with Marines evacuating civilians to Traxus Towers. During the evacuation, I helped a group of ODST's clear a landing pad for us. Once we had gotten the civilians evacuated, I assisted a group of marines in activating a pair of AA missile batteries to defend the evac transports against a corvette that was destroying them as they left."

After I had deterred the corvette from returning, I was reunited with Noble Team, and we helped in defending more evac transports and destroying Covenant Jammers throughout the city. Afterwards, we regrouped in the ONI tower to assess the situation, but as Carter contacted Colonel Holland, the Covenant began glassing the city. As we ran for the radiation bunker to shield us from the beam, an Elite Field Marshall, from a Spirit dropship, shot Kat in the head with a Needle Rifle. We descended into the bunker, and emerged to find the city in ruins."

"Per the Winter Contingency, any data on the location of any of the Inner Colonies or Earth was to be wiped or destroyed, and Sword Base had a lot of it, and not enough time to get rid of it all. Noble Team was called back to Sword Base to destroy it, but when we got to the area where we were to plant the bomb, we were called to a different area by an unknown AI with a very high security clearance level. It turned out that Dr. Halsey had ordered the destruction of the Base so that she could deliver to us a package for the _Pillar of Autumn_. She said that the package, an AI, had chosen me to take it to the _Autumn_ in the Azzod Shipyards.

When we left the facility, Jun was to take Dr. Halsey to Castle Base, While Carter, Emile and I went to Azzod to deliver the AI. During the journey to the shipyard, we were attacked by a group of Banshees, and Carter was critically wounded when a Fuel Rod explosive detonated in front of the dropship. And you know the rest." Captain Del Rio furrowed his brow a bit. "I do, Noble. Thank you. Now leave me, I need to file a report to FLEEDCOM. And we'll reach Earth in about 1 day." "Sir, before we leave, is there any word on the _Autumn_ or Carter's condition?" "The _Autumn_ just jumped to Slipspace about 5 minutes ago, and your commander is stable. He'll recover, with proper medical attention, in about 3 days, which is quite fast for the extent of his injuries, but he is a Spartan, so I shouldn't be surprised." "Thank you, Captain" Nobles 4 and 6 saluted and left to go see their commander."

**Author's Notes (Cont.) Chapter 5 is finally done! And that means that the Reach part is over as well! That chapter was one of the hardest to write because it took so long. If you are reading this, then that means that you hung in there and read the chapter, or just skipped over it and came down here to read this. If you read, thank you for bearing with me. If you didn't, oh, well, your choice. This is my last frequent update as well. The updates will now come about once a week. Sorry. (This chapter is exactly 1682 words long… ugh.)**


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6- Cairo Station

**Authors Note- I know I said last chapter that Carter would recover in a few days, but I had not done my research and didn't realize that it took nearly 3 months for John to return to Earth. Sorry.**

Earth Defense Station-Cairo, October 22, 2552

As Nobles 1, 4 and 6, along with a Spartan II they knew only as the Master Chief, and a Marine Sergeant-Major, Johnson, walked into the bridge of the station, Six, the closest to the Chief, heard him remark to the Sergeant that he had "told him that there wouldn't be any cameras." Johnson remarked that the Chief had told _him_ that he was going to wear something nice, that folks needed heroes, and to smile while they still had something to smile about. Noble 1 was completely recovered from his injuries after nearly a month, but his armor was destroyed and he had received a new set of Mark VI armor, save for the helmet which was repaired and given back to him.

In the center of the bridge, a man by the name of Lord Hood stood, watching them approach. When they arrived, an officer handed him a red-clothed case with 9 medals, all the same, in it. The Spartans and Johnson all saluted at once. Lord Hood looked at each of them individually. "Gentleman, we're lucky to have you all back." Carter looked up at him. "Sir, not everyone." "Of course, Noble 1. They'll be remembered." An officer walked up and whispers something in Hood's ear. He turned to a pedestal nearby. "Go ahead, Cortana." An AI avatar appeared on the pedestal; the same one that Six had delivered to the _Pillar of Autumn_ nearly 3 months ago. "Another whisper, sir, near Io, we have probes enroute. Also, we have detected a lone Phantom dropship on approach to the station. It appears heavily damaged and its weapon systems have been deliberately taken offline." Lord Hood looked curiously at an image of the dropship. "Could it be a scouting party?" "No, it seems it is deliberately trying to be noticed." An officer looked up at Hood. "Sir, there's a transmission coming from that dropship. It's one of ours." "Patch that signal through, Lieutenant." "Aye, sir." He pressed a few buttons and an audio signal was heard. It was too patchy to get a clear interpretation of the voice, but the words were understandable: "This is Spartan A-266 on a stolen Phantom dropship enroute to Earth. The dropship is damaged and I have disabled the weapons systems onboard. Request permission to land on Earth Defense Platform Cairo." Noble Team looked up, amazed at who was sending the signal. Carter got his voice back first. "Sir, Spartan 266 is one of my men, Jun, Noble 3."

Lord Hood looked at him, then back at the Lieutenant. He moved to the console and keyed the comm. "Spartan 266, this is Lord Hood on the Cairo; you are cleared to land in hangar bay 7. There are some people here who would like to see you." "thank you, Lord Hood. 266 out." Lord Hood turned to Noble Team. "Noble, go to the hangar and meet up with him, he'll want to see you." The three III's saluted to him in unison, then left the bridge.

When they arrived in the bay, the Phantom had already touched down, and Jun was just dropping out of the gravity lift. There was a squad of marines around the dropship, but when they saw the Spartan, they stood down and saluted. Jun saluted back and looked around when he saw the remainder of Noble Team walking up to him. He walked up to them and Carter extended his hand to Jun. "Good to see at least part of the team survived." " it's good to see you too, Jun. Let's go to the bridge; Lord Hood is expecting us."

**Author's Notes (Cont.)- Jun is back by popular demand! I feel like crap for forgetting about him. Also, before I posted chapter 5, I was reading the reviews and someone (I forget the pen name, sorry.) said that they wanted the team to go with the Master Chief to Delta Halo. Keep in mind I had not posted the chapter yet and as such had not asked the question about whether you wanted them to go or stay. Weird, right? It's like they read my mind or something. Anyway, as always, rate and review, and thanks for reading. Chapter 7 is going to have the events from the level Cairo Station in it, so there will finally be some action. The chapters are going to include the events from the respective levels in it. Chapter 8 will have Outskirts, Chapter 9 Metropolis, and so on. Also, do you want any of the Spartans to go with the Arbiter after the Gravemind encounter, or do you want them all to go with the Chief? PM or review with your ideas and I will tally the votes. I still need beta-readers. And more reviews. And I leave you with that.**


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7- Gift Giving

**Author's Note- You will understand the title of the chapter at the end, or if you've already played Halo 2. For now enjoy the sort-of novelization of Cairo Station. Rate and Review, as always. P.S. there is at least one comedic part in every chapter from now on. I just kind of put them in. Also, the chapters will be very long at this point, but there is a lot of action. One more thing, look for the running gag in this chapter. It is quite obvious. P.P.S. Expect delays in the updates. I have to work on summer homework, and I'm not going to start Chapter 8 until it's finished. Chapter 8 should be out in about 2-3 weeks, after that, the updates will come about once a week, as promised. Rate and Review. Please. Do it now, this is very important. "Your enjoyment of this book is the will of the Gods. And I… I am their instrument."**

Noble Team returned to the bridge of the Earth Defense Platform Cairo. Inside, they found Lord Hood, Sgt. Johnson, a woman they did not know, and the Master Chief waiting for them. When they walked up, Lord Hood turned to them and saluted. They saluted back. Just then, alarms started going off all over the station, and Cortana's avatar appeared on the pedestal again. "Slipspace ruptures; directly off our battle cluster." Lord Hood turned to look at her. "Show me." An overlay of the area appeared on the viewscreen. "15 Covenant capital ships holding position just outside the kill zone." A new group appeared. Under the largest ship, the name F.A. Harper appeared. "This is Fleet Admiral Harper, we are engaging the enemy." "Negative, Admiral. Form a defensive perimeter around the cluster." He looked at the Covenant force onscreen, puzzled. "Something's not right; the fleet that destroyed Reach was fifty times this size."

An officer looked up at him. "Sir, additional contacts: boarding craft and lots of them!" "They're going to try to take our MAC guns offline; give their capital ships a straight shot at Earth." He turned to the woman. "Commander, get to your ship. Link up with the fleet." She saluted and left. He turned to the pedestal. "You have the MAC gun, Cortana. Soon as they come in range, open up." "Gladly" Her avatar disappeared. Hood turned to the Spartans. "Spartans, the Office of Naval Intelligence has requested that the 5 of you become one unit, under their command. You will become one unit, but under my command. You are now Bravo Team. Master Chief, you are the leader. Now take your team and defend this station." The Chief saluted. "Yes sir." He turned to Johnson. "We need weapons." "Right this way."

He led the team to an armory station where they found a whole host of weapons. Bravo 1, the Master Chief, took a BR55 Battle Rifle and 2 M7 Caseless Sub-Machine Guns. Bravo 2, Carter, took an MA5B Assault Rifle and an M6C Pistol. Bravo 3, Jun, took an SRS-99C-S2-AMB Sniper Rifle and an M7 Caseless SMG. Emile, Bravo 4, took an M90 Tactical Shotgun and an M6C Pistol. And Six, Bravo 5, took an M395 DMR and an MA5B Assault Rifle. The Chief looked at his new team. "Check your ammo. Make sure you've got all you can carry. You may not find anymore." They all grabbed at least 4 more clips of ammo for each of their weapons, then left to join Sgt. Johnson.

They found Johnson setting up an HMG near a sealed doorway. He turned as they approached. "Chief; just heard some combat on the other side of that door." Just then, they heard a crackling sound and saw what looked like a torch cutting through the door. The Master Chief signaled Jun to stay back, and for the rest to pick an area and stay there. Johnson spoke up. "Field of fire on that bulkhead. Soon as that door opens; let 'em have it." About 5 seconds later, the door blew open and a group of 4 Grunts and an Elite Minor rushed through the door. Before the Elite got 2 feet into the room, his head exploded as a 14.5X114 mm AP-FS-DS round passed through. The Grunts panicked, threw down their weapons, and ran in circles. Carter and Emile ran up, drew their combat knives, and stabbed the Grunts through their methane sacks. Six, or rather Five, shot the methane sack of a Grunt with his DMR, and the Master Chief snapped the last ones neck.

Another group, this one containing a Major instead of a Minor, stormed through the door. This time though, the Elite did not have his head blown off an instant after he stepped through the door. As Jun was lining up his next shot, Emile jumped on the Elite's back, drew his kukri, and plunged it into the back of the Elite's head. He jumped off, drew his shotgun and shot 2 Grunts through their methane sacks. The other Grunts panicked and ran away, only to return as 2 Elite Minors entered the room through one of the upper levels. Six ran up and tackled one of the Minors, then drew his knife and stabbed it twice in the neck. "That's for Kat and Jorge." The Chief had already done away with the other, and the Grunts were long since gone.

They then left the room and moved on towards the port Pelican bay, where there was reported to be a breach. They had already killed a slew of Covenant and when they arrived in the bay, 5 Grunts turned and all at once yelled, "Demons, here! Run for your lives!" As they ran, the Major commanding them backhanded one across the face. "Hold ranks, you fools." Just then, his head exploded as another 14.5X114mm AP-FS-DS round passed through. Jun laughed through the team comm channel. "Hah. Idiots. They should have been focused on us instead." The Grunts, including the two that had run from the first encounter, all pulled out plasma grenades, ignited them, and ran at the Spartans. Six shot the one in the middle with his DMR and the grenades it was holding flew out and stuck to the two beside him. When they blew up, the other two died as well. The Spartans turned to look at him, amazed at the shot. Six opened up a team-wide comm channel. "What? I'm a crack shot with a DMR."

The Master Chief just shook his head disbelievingly and moved toward the viewport where a group of marines were watching the battle outside. One of them remarked, "Hey, check it out, the Malta's already driven off its boarders." One of the marines on the Malta said over the comm, "I don't believe it. They're retreating, we won." Those were his last words, because just then, the station blew up spontaneously. The same marine who had remarked about the Malta's boarders now took on a more grim tone. "Oh, this is bad. Real bad."

The doors behind them opened as more Elites and Grunts poured into the room. Carter grabbed a frag grenade from one of the marines' belts, primed it, and threw it right into the middle of the group. When it blew, all the Grunts "flew away" to whatever version of the afterlife they believed in, and 2 Minors joined them as Emile and Six shot them each twice in the head. The Major leading the force looked seriously pissed at this point, and threw himself at Jun, who had pulled out his M7 SMG and was closing the distance between him and the Major. The Elite slammed into Jun and threw him to the ground. It pulled an energy dagger and thrust down, right into the place where Jun had been not ½ a second ago. The III had rolled out of the way and now drew his knife and stabbed the Major through the mouth, right into its brain. Carter helped Jun up and the newly christened "Bravo Team" moved on through, toward yet another Pelican bay. Along the way, the alarms warned that "Hostiles have breached the port MAC bay."

When they arrived in the Pelican bay, there were 2 plasma turrets set up on an elevated walkway facing them, and 2 more facing the opposite way. Jun grabbed a plasma grenade that he had taken from the now-dead pissed off Major, primed it, and threw it up at the Grunts who were operating the turrets. The grenade exploded, killing all 4 Grunts and rendering the turrets inoperable. The Elites and Grunts on the ground all took cover as a hail of bullets rained down on them. The Master Chief flanked them and sprayed them down with a hail of SMG rounds. 2 Grunts were killed and an Elite Minor rolled out of the way, only to be killed as a 14.5X114mm AP-FS-DS round flew through his head. Another Elite went down as Six jumped on his back and snapped his neck. Emile ran up behind a Major and shot him through the gut with his shotgun. The Elite's shields buckled and he fell down dead. "That's the last of them."

A marine walked over to the window and remarked, afraid, "Uh, oh. Now they're leaving the Athens." About 5 seconds later, the Athens was no more. Lord Hood came over the comm. "Cortana, assessment." "That explosion came from inside the Athens, same as the Malta. The Covenant must have brought something with them. A bomb." "Then they sure as hell brought one here. Bravo Team, Find it."

A set of doors beneath them opened, which led to the armory where Carter and Chief had gotten their new armor. As the doors at the end of the corridor opened, a pair of Stealth Elites uncloaked and opened fire on the Spartans. Emile shot one with his shotgun, and the Chief killed the other with sustained bursts from his battle rifle. Six stooped and took a plasma rifle from one of the Elites' corpses. "This may come in handy."

They all heard the Master Gunnery Sergeant in the armory yell, "Get the hell out of my armory, split-lipped-motherfuck-OH GOD!" When the team managed to get the doors open, they found the Sergeant lying on the ground, dead, with a shotgun lying next to him and plasma burns on his gut. Emile ran towards the Elites, a Major and a Minor, stooped to pick up the other shotgun, and blasted the hell out of the Elites. Chief looked at Carter. "How they do that has always been a mystery to me." "Emile is one of the best with a shotgun." "I can tell."

They fought their way to a corridor where Johnson and the Commander whom they still did not know were pinned down by a group of Grunts and Elites. Johnson looked up at them. "Good to see you guys." The woman spoke up. "I was almost onboard when _they_ showed up." "Don't worry ma'am, we'll take care of them." Emile stole a grenade from Johnson, primed it and threw it right at one of the Minors. When it detonated, the Elite was torn to shreds and the surrounding Grunts went to whatever they called the afterlife.

After all of the hostiles had been eliminated, Cortana came over the comm channel. It was evident she was addressing Lord Hood. "Sir, hostiles have breached the fire control center. They have a bomb." "Can you diffuse it?" "Yes, but I'll need Bravo Team's help to make contact with the detonator." "Spartans, get to the fire control center and diffuse that bomb." When they reached the elevator, after fighting 3 Elite Rangers, Cortana contacted them. "Just so you know, there are quite a few Elites guarding the bomb, so you may need to get creative." Almost as soon as the doors opened, plasma fire rained down from a group of 3 Minor, 2 Majors, an Ultra, and 3 Grunt Majors on the Spartans, crippling their shields. The bomb was ticking away on the other side of the room. Emile grabbed another frag grenade that he had taken from Johnson, primed it, and threw it at the Ultra. It rolled out of the way just as the grenade blew up, putting a minor dent in its shields, and killing 2 of the Grunts.

The elevator behind them opened again, and a lone ODST ran through, spraying MA5B rounds at the group of Covenant, killing the last Grunt and 1 of the Minors before reloading. He ran over to where Carter and Six had taken cover, pulled out an M6C Magnum, and took pot-shots at the Elites. Emile, still wielding 2 shotguns, ran forward and killed a Minor and a Major before having one of the shotguns slapped out of his grasp by the Ultra, who had become so pissed that it had pulled out its Energy Sword. It slashed down at Emile, who dodged out of the way, only to have his other shotgun cut in half. The ODST ran up behind it and sunk his combat knife into the back of its neck, killing it instantly. Emile picked up his other shotgun, the one the Master Gunnery Sergeant had used, and shot the last Major in the face, while the last Minor was killed by a 14.5X114mm AP-FS-DS round passing through its head.

The Master Chief walked up to the ODST. "Who are you?" The ODST took off his helmet. "Gunnery Sergeant Edward Buck at your service." He turned to Six. "Good to see at least one other soldier survived the Fall of Reach. You helped my old unit in New Alexandria. Remember the Bullfrogs?" "The ones who used the jetpacks? I remember them. Though I don't remember you." The Chief looked over at the bomb. "I hate to break up the reunion, but we still have a bomb to diffuse." He walked over to the AI pedestal, conveniently placed right next to the bomb. Cortana's avatar appeared as the Chief walked over. "Me. Inside your head. Now." He placed his hand on the pedestal, then on the detonator of the bomb, allowing Cortana to disable the bomb. "How much time was left?" "You don't want to know."

Buck walked up to the Chief. "Sir, what are you going to do with that?" He pointed at the bomb. Chief opened up a comm channel to the Cairo's bridge. "Sir, permission to leave the station." Lord Hood responded curiously. "For what purpose, Master Chief?" "To give the Covenant back their bomb." There was a pause. "Permission granted." Chief turned to the former Noble Team. "Find a Pelican in one of the bays, get to _In Amber Clad_. Commander Keyes is already expecting you." Six looked at him, perplexed. "What about you, sir?" "I've got a little gift giving to do." He grabbed one of the spikes on the bomb as he said this, and started dragging the bomb towards one of the cargo elevators. Carter ran up, grabbed two of the spikes and helped him drag it. He looked at Buck. "Go with them." "Yes sir, Commander." And with that, the elevator doors closed and the Spartans, plus Buck walked over to the other elevator and took it to one of the Pelican bays.

When the group entered one of the Pelicans, They received a transmission from _In Amber Clad_. "Bravo Team, this is Commander Miranda Keyes of _In Amber Clad_. Once you board the ship, you need to get prepared for a surface battle." Six keyed the comm. "Yes ma'am. But we'll need to find the Chief and Carter once they finish up with whatever they're doing." I've already got a lock on their signals and I'm tracking them now." With that, the Pelican took off and headed for _In Amber Clad_'s beacon.

Inside the Cairo, the Chief and Carter were waiting for the elevator to reach the airlock when Cortana, still inside the Chief's neural network, spoke up. "I know what you're thinking, and it's crazy." Carter looked at the Master Chief. "So stay here." Unfortunately for all three of us, I like crazy." When the elevator arrived at the airlock, Chief and Carter hauled the bomb out into the open, and Carter ran over to where the airlock release lever was. When he grabbed it, Cortana asked what had been floating in Carter's mind for the past few minutes. "Just one question. What if you miss?" The Chief spoke up after a pause. "We won't." And with that, Carter pulled the lever and opened up the airlock. Everything that wasn't bolted down flew out as the atmosphere inside was vented, including the bomb, which was down now carrying a full ton of Spartan armor behind it causing it to tip up slightly.

Carter and the Chief guided the bomb down towards the nearest carrier, knowing that they would miss the one closest to Earth. The carrier shot a strange beam just as a UNSC ship passed over it, severing the UNSC ship nearly in half. Two Longsword fighters, evidently launched to help destroy the carrier, zoomed ahead of the Spartans and their payload, and launched a group of missiles at the center of the carrier, blowing a hole big enough to fit both the Spartans and the Covenant's "present". The hole led directly to the ship's core, where the Chief climbed up the bomb, armed it, and signaled Carter to join him in pushing the bomb closer to the center of the "room". When Carter stood up on the bomb, they both pushed off and soared through the Earth's orbit, towards the surface. The "present" detonated behind them, destroying the carrier instantly. _In Amber Clad_, with the rest of Bravo Team waiting, flew right into their path and they crashed onto the top.

Inside, on the bridge, Sgt. Johnson and the crew all heard the dual thumps as the Chief and Carter landed on top of the ship. Johnson looked at Commander Keyes, who was sitting nearby. "For a couple of bricks, they flew pretty good." The Commander keyed the comm. "Chief, Commander, get inside, gear up, we're taking this fight to the surface."


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8- Just our luck.

**Authors Notes- I lied accidentally about not starting the chapter until I finished my summer homework. Anyway, here is the sort-of novelization of Outskirts. As always, Rate and Review, but mostly Review. I need to know what you like and dislike about the book. "Your enjoyment of this book is the will of the Gods. And I… I am their instrument." I may be able to get chapters 9 and 10 up before school starts, but after that, expect slow updates. Sorry. Also, I need to know if you want the former Noble team to stay on Earth after the Prophet of Regret jumps to Delta Halo and help the ODST squad from H3: ODST, or go with John, kick Regret's ass, meet the Arbiter, and then either go with John to High Charity to kick the Prophet's asses, or go with the Arbiter, kick Tartarus' hairy ass, and stop the ring from firing. So many choices… so little time. Either way, there will be ass-kicking. I will not post Chapter 9 until I have made a decision on whether they stay on Earth or go to Installation 05. Thank you in advance for your time. One more thing, we have over 1000 views. Holy crap, I never expected it to get this popular in just about 2 weeks! Keep reading and tell your friends about this story.**

As the Pelican carrying Bravo Team neared its target, they all caught the message coming from the Covenant Assault Carrier, their target. Cortana relayed the message back to _In Amber Clad_ and the cockpit, where Sgt. Johnson was. "The message just repeats: Regret, Regret, Regret." Commander Keyes responded uninterestedly. "Catchy. Any idea what it means?" Johnson answered proudly, "Dear humanity, we regret being alien bastards. We regret coming to Earth. And we most definitely regret that the Corps just blew up our raggedy-ass fleet." The two pilots responded at once, "Hooh-rah." Cortana told Johnson that Regret was the Prophet's name and that he was calling for help.

One of their recon teams sent to scout the LZ reported in. "Immediate, Grid Kilo Two-Three is hot, recommend mission abort." One of the pilots keyed the comm. "Roger, recon." He turned to Johnson. "It's your call, Sarge." Johnson thought for a moment, and then responded, "We're going in." He turned to the ODST's (Buck had gone back to his squad in order to prep to board the carrier via orbital drop pods.) and ordered, "Get tactical, Marines!" Lord Hood contacted Bravo Team from the Cairo, which was still functional after the battle. "Bravo Team, get aboard that carrier, secure the Prophet of Regret. This is the only place on Earth the Covenant decided to land; That Prophet is going to tell us why."

The Pelican's intercom buzzed and one of the pilots came on, "30 seconds out, stand by to… whoa." The Chief walked over to the comm terminal. "What is it?" One of the pilots screamed over the intercom, "SCARAB! BRACE FOR IMPACT!" Carter looked up from examining his DMR. "This feels familiar." Just then, the Pelican was hit by a barrage of plasma, presumably from the Scarab's AA gun, flipped over and crashed into the ground.

The door to the now destroyed Pelican flew open, and the Spartans, plus three of the ODST's crawled out. One of the ODST's, a Lieutenant, said out loud, "Shit, we lost Jameson in the crash." Johnson walked out. "Shake it off, Marines! Clear the crash site. Go, go, go!" Jun stood up and remarked, "Just our luck." Carter looked at Six, who had kneeled down to pick up his MA5B and the Plasma Rifle he had acquired from the Stealth Elite near the armory of the Cairo. "Now this really feels familiar." "Yeah, but we aren't on Reach, there isn't a Scarab that the Pelican is lodged in, and you aren't crippled from the crash." "Good point. But there is a Scarab to deal with." Emile looked over at the two. "Later. Let's go." They fell in with the marines, moving to a nearby alley where a lone Grunt was patrolling. When it saw the Spartans, it panicked and ran away. Six drew his knife and threw it, piercing the methane sack on its back and its spine, killing it instantly.

Six retrieved his knife, and the group moved silently into a nearby building, which curiously had ammo lying around and a machine gun turret set up already, but no bodies. As Six was pondering the reasons why this could happen, he collided with the back of an Elite Minor, who turned around, roared, slapped Six' Assault Rifle out of his hands, and then threw Six onto the ground and prepared to stab him with a plasma dagger. Six rolled just as the Elite thrust its dagger into the ground, drew his Plasma Rifle, and fired right at the Elite's head. Its Shields quickly went down and shortly thereafter, it joined all of its brothers who had died in the space battle. The Master Chief walked up, kicked Six's AR back to him, and then said, "Next time, watch where you're going."

One of the ODSTs helped him up, and the group moved on, inadvertently starting a firefight because the Chief had kicked a Grunt, sending it over the edge of the building and onto a Jackal that was walking by. A nearby Elite saw the "accident" and ran to the source, only to have its head explode as a 14.5X144mm AP-FS-DS round passed through its head. The Spartans turned to look at Jun, who they thought had fired the shot. He had a DMR and a Magnum, but no Sniper Rifle. "Wasn't me." The Chief looked around and then said over the comm, "Thanks, Sergeant." "No problem, Chief. Next time though, don't kick the Grunt. Just shoot it." Six looked over at the Chief. "Next time, watch where you're going."

Johnson yelled down, "We've got Jackals in the courtyard!" Six ran over to the machine gun and blasted 2 Jackals to the afterlife. The Chief jumped down and caved in an Elite Major's skull with one punch. Emile blasted a Jackal in the back with his shotgun. Carter stabbed another in the back of the neck, and Jun shot one through the mouth with his Magnum. The ODST Lieutenant stabbed an Elite Minor through the neck and proclaimed, "That was for Jameson." Six yelled down at the group, "Buggers coming over the rooftops!" He pointed to where a group of Drones were flying towards the group and then opened fire with the machine gun, killing 5 in the initial barrage, but overheating the gun in the process. "God damn, that hurts!" He shook his hands to dispel the heat, and then opened fire again, killing only 3. The Chief took down 2 with his M7 SMG, and Emile killed 1 with his shotgun. "That's the last of 'em." Cortana contacted the other Pelican that had gone down. "2nd squad, what is your status, over." "We're operational, ma'am, barely. Our pilot didn't make it." "Find a hole, stay put, we'll come to you." Another Pelican flew in overhead and hovered over the courtyard. "My girl's a little big for that courtyard, Sergeant. I see a good LZ a few clicks down. I'll meet you there, over." "Roger that." He yelled down to the ODST's, "Get a satchel on the gate."

Before anyone could get near the door, it fell over and a pair of Hunters stormed through. Johnson contacted the ODST's. "Hang back, let the Spartans show you how it's done." Six opened fire with the turret, wounding one, while Emile and the Chief ran behind it and shot it in its weak point, killing it. The ODST Lieutenant ran up to one, blazing a hail of bullets from his SMG. The Hunter ran forward and back-shielded the trooper, sending him hurtling into a nearby apartment, and killing him. Six obviously had a fondness for ODSTs, because in a fit of rage, he yanked the turret off the stand, jumped over the side of the building, and blasted the Hunter with the 200 rounds it kept in a box magazine, killing it within the first 100 rounds, but in his anger he kept firing. The Master Chief looked at Carter, amazed at Six's performance. "Does he do that often?" "Not that I know of, but he did seem to have a fondness for ODSTs after working with them in New Alexandria."

The group moved through the door and into another alleyway, this one containing 4 Jackals, 2 of them snipers, and 3 Elites. One of the ODSTs was hit in the shoulder with a Beam Rifle round and went down hard. The other ODST ran over, dragged the trooper to a safer area, peeled away the burned armor, and inspected the wound. "You're not going to be moving that arm for a while. It looks like the skin has melted to your shoulder. It's a miracle your armor didn't too" The injured trooped pulled out his sidearm and sniped the Jackal that had injured him. Six saw the troopers and ran over. "What's wrong?" "Beam Rifle round in the shoulder. Melted the skin to his bone." The trooper pulled out his medkit and patched the injured trooper up as best he could. The Corpsman turned to Six. "You can't do anything here, Lieutenant. This trooper needs to go to a field hospital, wherever that is." "I can help take him there." "No. Go with your team and find 2nd squad. I'll handle this." Six ran off to join the other Spartans.

When Six caught up to the others, they were already close to where 2nd squad had set their beacon. A Pelican dropped down and hovered near where Sgt. Johnson was. He jumped on the back and looked at the Chief. "Chief, Commander needs me to help some soldiers who are dropping supplies. I'm not going to need this anymore." He handed his Sniper Rifle to the Master Chief, who in turn handed it to Jun after the Sergeant had left. The Spartans moved on, eventually coming to a building surrounded on its front by Covenant forces. The Spartans ran toward the entrance, where a lone marine sergeant was taking pot-shots with his DMR.

After all the hostiles had been killed, the Spartans walked over to the sergeant. "Spartans? I thought they had all died on Reach. Anyway, I'm Gunnery Sergeant Stacker. The LZ is on the other side of this building." They followed him into a dark corridor, where on the other side they saw the shadows of 3 Elites running towards the corridor. The Chief opened a team-wide frequency. "Get to cover and don't move. Do not engage until I give the signal." He received 4 green lights, which meant they had all gotten the message. Jun reported that there was a squad of Grunts behind the Elites, presumably in case any humans decided to ambush the Elites from behind. After the Grunts had passed by, the Chief gave the signal, and the Spartans sprang from their hiding places, killing the Grunts and a Minor undetected. Emile shot an Elite Major through the chest with his shotgun, causing the other Major to turn around and lunge at him, only to fall backwards onto the ground as a 14.5X114mm AP-FS-DS round flew through its head. Emile looked back at Jun. "How many is that now, Jun?" "Four, but who's counting?" "You."

The team moved out of the corridor and found themselves in the middle of a firefight between a group of marines and a Phantom dropship, which had just dropped its compliment of troops: 6 Grunts and 2 Elite Minors, which all opened fire the second they hit the ground, killing 2 marines and injuring a third. The Spartans rushed forward, spraying fire on all hostiles in their way, killing all the Grunts and breaking the shields of one of the Minors. Emile ran behind the Minor and ran his kukri through its neck, while the Chief tackled the other and held it down while Carter shot it with his newly acquired DMR.

A pair of Warthogs drove up on the street beneath them and when they jumped down, the marines jumped out of the drivers seats. One of them looked at the Chief. "Compliments of Commander Keyes, sir." The Spartans piled into the Hogs, Emile driving one while Carter sat beside him and Jun operated the gun, and Six driving the other while one of the marines sat beside him and the Chief operated the gun. They drove off, heading for a highway that would supposedly take them to the carrier. Before they got to the highway, they encountered numerous Phantoms and Elite drop pods and had to fight them off before advancing.

As the group traversed the highway, part of the ceiling collapsed, and there was a beam that looked like a Scarab's. Carter looked over at Six and keyed the comm. "There's your Scarab." "_My_ Scarab? When did it become mine?" The Chief cut in. "When you started bitching about it being yours. Besides, it hasn't noticed us, so you don't need to worry about it just yet." Emile cut in. "Can we all just agree that it's all of ours, and get the hell on the move? I'd like to be in the carrier when it leaves, not sitting here bitching about who has to deal with the Scarab." They drove to the end of the tunnel, and found a pair of marines, one of whom looked like he had just seen a ghost. The Chief walked over to the other , while the rest waited for him to return.


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter 9- Time to kill us a really big bug

**Authors Notes- I have decided! They will… I'm not going to reveal it now. That would spoil the rest of this section of the book! You'll just have to read to find out where they go. As always, Rate and Review. Please. This is very important. "Your enjoyment of this book is the will of the Gods. And I… I am their instrument." Also, I am going to deviate a little to write a chapter on the Arbiter's final mission before the Brutes go bat-shit crazy and kill all the Elites. You know: the one where he goes to retrieve the key that activates the giant hula-hoops of death. For those of you born missing a sense of humor, I am referring to the Halo rings. Duh. I will write this chapter after the Chief kicks Regret's ass. Anyway, enjoy the sort-of novelization of Metropolis.**

The Master Chief walked over to where a marine was scoping up the Scarab that had just gone by. When he walked up, she told him that it "blew right through us. 50-cal, rockets, didn't do a thing." A Pelican flew over with a tank slung underneath it, and a very familiar sergeant in the passenger compartment.

Johnson jumped out as the tank dropped onto the ground, walked over to the marines and asked them where the rest of their platoon was. The female answered that it was wasted. The other marine was obviously panicking, because he responded with, "And we will be too, sir, if we don't get the hell out of here!" As he walked toward the Pelican, Johnson grabbed his shoulder. "You hit, marine? "No, sir." "Then listen up! The Spartans are going to take this tank, roll across that bridge, and blow up any inhuman son of a bitch dumb enough to get between them and the Prophet of Regret" He turned to the panicking marine. "Pull yourself together, because you are going with 'em." The other marine walked over. "What about that Scarab?" "We've all run the simulations. They're tough, but they're not invincible. Stay with the Spartans, they'll know what to do." "Yes sir, sergeant!" Cortana contacted Johnson. "Thanks for the tank. _They_ never get me anything." Johnson cocked the machine gun in the Pelican and lit a cigar. "Oh, I know what the ladies like."

The Pelican took off, and the Spartans piled into the tank, with the Master Chief driving, Emile operating the machine gun, and the rest piling onto the jumpseats. They did just what Johnson had said they would: they rolled across the bridge in the tank, and blew up any Covenant who got in their way. At the end of the bridge, Cortana voiced all their opinions. "That's quite a welcome party." Six's response was, "Tell me about it." Two Wraith tanks came out of the only open tunnel leading to where they needed to go. Carter pulled up the Rocket Launcher he had taken from the panicking marine, and pumped both tubes into one tank, blowing it up. The other tank fired, narrowly missing the left side of the Scorpion. The Chief turned the barrel and blew the tank to hell and back with one well-placed shot.

As the group rode through the tunnel, they heard what seemed to be a group of marines fighting Jackals and Grunts and maybe a few Elites. There was a bang and all at once 3 Elites, 4 Grunts, and 2 Jackals went into the afterlife. Six turned to look at the Chief. "That was a little bit of overkill, don't you think?" "There's no such thing as overkill, only excessive force. And no, that was not excessive force." He shot a lone Grunt through the head with another tank round. "That was."

The group moved on in silence, or as close to silence as they could get with the roar of the tank's engine and the sounds of battle all around them. When they reached the other side of the tunnel, they abandoned the tank and went out on foot, through a service pipe, and into the middle of a skirmish between a Covenant squad, comprised of 2 Elites, 5 Jackal Snipers, 3 regular Jackals, and 10 Grunts, against Gunnery Sergeant Stacker in a Gauss Warthog. The Chief jumped down after killing one of the Snipers that was close by, and the Warthog stopped near him. "I could use you on the gun, Chief." Right as he jumped on, Carter jumped into the side seat and readied his Rocket Launcher. "Thought you guys could use some extra support." There were two Ghosts chasing the Gauss Hog, and with one shot from the Gauss Cannon, and one rocket, they were dealt with. The rest of the group found a regular Hog and followed the Chief and Carter.

They ended up back on the highway, after dealing with another Wraith and two more Ghosts, and were following another group of marines when three Phantoms dropped off three more Wraiths. Cortana informed the group that there was a group of marines trapped in the building on the far side of the street, right behind the Wraiths. Carter pumped his last rocket into one of the Wraiths, while the Chief put at least 5 Gauss rounds into it, blowing it sky-high. Six, who was riding in the other Warthog, jumped out and ran towards the nearest Wraith, jumped on the back, and jammed a plasma grenade into its weak spot. It exploded as he jumped off, putting a dent in his shields.

The other Wraith turned and fired at Six, who was still recovering from the explosion. Six locked his armor, over pressurized the gel layer of his suit, and braced for the impact. When the round hit, Six was sent flying, hitting a building about 2 stories off the ground and at least 50 feet from where he had been. After he fell out of the building, he stood up and groaned. "That really hurt." Emile drove up beside him, and when Six got in, Emile remarked, "Next time, get out of the way, or be more subtle."

After the group had destroyed the last Wraith, another Phantom dropped two Ghosts, one of which was destroyed almost instantly when a 25mm Gauss round smacked the side of it. The other was hit by the wreckage, causing it to go up in flames. The group drove up to where a group of marines were stationed, obviously defending the entrance to the building. As the Spartans disembarked their Warthogs, one of the marines walked up. "Sir, Corporal Perez, A company. CP's this way." He led the Spartans up a couple flights of stairs, briefing them as he went. "The Lieutenant got hit as soon as we dropped." The Chief cut in. "Who's in charge now?" "Sergeant Banks, sir, he up top. Come on, I'll show you." He led them to an overlook just above where they had entered. A man, presumably Banks, turned and looked at them all, amazed. "When I called for backup, I didn't think they'd send Spartans." He turned around. "We've got trouble."

Just then, the Scarab rounded the corner, noticed a Scorpion tank that had just been dropped, and vaporized it with its main gun. One of the marines said, "See this look, it's terror!" Sgt. Banks keyed the comm. "This thing is really starting to PISS ME OFF! Marines, time to kill us a Scarab!" He led the Spartans to a series of bridges spanning a waterway, and soon enough, the Scarab turned the corner and moved towards them. Six grabbed a Rocket Launcher and a DMR, and jumped onto the Scarab. When he landed, three Elite Majors ran out of an area that appeared to access the control station. One of them fell over as a 14.5X114 AP-FS-DS round flew through its head. The others scattered as a hail of 7.62mm rounds flew at them, crippling their shields. Six looked up and saw Emile and the Chief, each wielding MA5B assault rifles, jump down after him. Carter jumped down next, wielding a DMR in one hand and an SMG in the other. Two more Majors and a Minor came out of the area and opened fire on the Spartans, dropping Six's shields and putting a dent in everyone else's. One of the Majors heads snapped back, and it fell as another 14.5X114mm AP-FS-DS round flew through its head, while the others were taken care of by a pair of well-placed plasma grenades.

The group entered the control area, where 2 Grunt Ultras, an Elite Ultra, and 2 Elite Majors resided. The Grunts both fell as a 14.5X114mm AP-FS-DS round passed through one's head and exited into the others. The Ultra rushed them, but quickly fell back as its shields were depleted by the combined firepower of all 5 Spartans. The 2 Majors, who were operating the controls of the Scarab, left their posts, readied their Plasma Rifles, and charged the Spartans. Both quickly fell to the Spartans superior firepower. The Ultra, who was about to charge them again, witnessed his brother's deaths and was instantly pissed off enough to draw his Energy Sword, throw away all caution, and run at the Spartans. It managed to get close enough before its shields broke to swing at Carter, who was the closest, and would have cut the commander in two, had Six not tackled the Ultra and stabbed it with his knife. Six got up, sheathed his knife, and took the Energy Sword. Carter looked at him. "I could have dodged it." "No, you couldn't have. Not when you were still pouring SMG rounds into it." Emile walked over to the controls and initiated an overload of the reactors. "Let's get out of here."

The team walked to the end of the platform and saw a Pelican rise out of the smoke from the explosion. Johnson screamed over the comm. "That's right, you mothers, RUN!" Commander Keyes interrupted his victory celebration. "Not if we can help it, Sergeant. Extract the Spartans and return to _In Amber Clad_." "Yes ma'am." The doors to the passenger bay of the Pelican dropped open and the Spartans all piled in. The pilots took the Pelican into the hangar of _In Amber Clad_, and when they were inside, the frigate lurched forward. Carter keyed the comm. "Commander, mind telling us where we are going that we need to go that fast?" "We're chasing the Prophet. His carrier is going to jump to Slipspace inside the city." The frigate got into the carrier's shields (like the Chief did in H4 when he was chasing the Didact), and when it jumped, so did _In Amber Clad_. The shockwave produced by the jump destroyed the city and vaporized all the ODST drop pods sent to board the carrier, except Gunnery Sergeant Buck's squad, which had been diverted mere moments before to a new target set by their new CO.


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter 10- Hard Landing

**Author's Notes- Holy crap, I've already done 10 chapters! I never thought the book would get this long and successful! At last check, the book had about 1900 views. Thank you all so much for supporting this book. Without you guys, I don't think the book would have continued past the 5****th**** chapter. I would have lost interest because there would have been too few readers. I admit, I did not think the book would go even this far. Again thank you all for your support. As you may have read before, I decided to expand the story to the end of Halo 4 instead of just the end of 3. The story just has so much potential in H4. I just need more reviews. Also, I have started a forum for your ideas, but** **I am going to need moderators, as I do not have an internet connection all the time. Who do you want to go with Arby and who do you want to go with the Chief? What minor characters do you want to see in the book? Do you want me to pull characters from the grave like Jorge** **and the ODST's from Halo: The Flood like Lieutenant McKay and Major Silva? Do you want me to bring back things from previous entries in the series like the UNSC **_**Spirit of Fire?**_** Post your ideas on the forum. This is your book; I'm merely writing it for you. "Your enjoyment of this book is the will of the Gods. And I… I am their instrument." Enjoy the sort of novelization of Delta Halo. Also, do you think I'm being racist against Grunts? I would very much like to know.**

As the Prophet of Regret's carrier came out of Slipspace, so did a lot of debris, including another ship, the UNSC _In Amber Clad_. The ship was silent, and for all intents and purposes, permanently disabled. Inside, the Spartans of Bravo Team and their marine and ODST allies were recovering from such a quick jump, when the commander of the ship contacted Cortana with an interesting question. "Cortana, what exactly am I looking at?" Cortana used the ship's cameras to determine what Commander Keyes was talking about. "That… is another Halo." Sgt. Johnson, who was also in on the transmission, was so astonished that he lost his cigar that he had lit moments before, and the Chief audibly gasped.

The rest of the Spartans looked at the Chief. Six walked over. "Chief, what's a Halo?" The Chief looked up at him, but Cortana answered first. "Halo is a ring-like structure built by a species long extinct, known to the Covenant as Forerunners. The rings are, when activated, designed to kill off the food source of a virulent parasite known as the Flood." "And that is?" "Sentient life. Humans, Covenant, whatever." "Oh… that's not good." "But, the rings can only be activated using a key called the Activation Index." The Chief cut in. "Cortana, do you still have the one from the first Halo?" "Of course I do." She addressed Six again. "The rings can only be activated by what the Forerunners call 'Reclaimers', as far as I know, that term encompasses humans. The rings are attended to by constructs called Monitors. The one on the first Halo was called 343 Guilty Spark. The rings are known to house large samples of Flood, and on the first Halo, the Covenant accidentally released them. Guilty Spark convinced the Chief to get the Index and travel to the control room, where we had already visited before I knew it was a weapon to wipe out all life in the galaxy, and stopped them from activating the rings." Chief cut in again. "In my defense, I thought the rings would destroy the Flood, not every other living thing. Spark never told me the true nature of the rings." "That doesn't matter now, Chief, we blew up the ring months ago." Cortana addressed Six again. "The Covenant believe that firing the rings will begin their Great Journey and make them all gods." "Okay, I think I got it. Thanks."

Commander Keyes came over the comm. "Cortana, I want all the data you've got on the first Halo: schematics, topography whatever, I don't care if I have the clearance or not." "Yes ma'am." "Spartans: take 1st Platoon, hard drop. Sergeant: load up 2 flights of Pelicans and follow them in." "Aye aye, ma'am. "Until I can move and fight, I'm going to keep a low profile, so once you leave the ship, you're on your own." The Spartans each heard two thumps on their pods, and responded with one thud of their own. "Understood." After about a minute of waiting, the pods dropped, sending the Spartans and their ODST allies down toward the ring. (Cue the song "I Believe I Can Fly.)

On the ground of the ring, a Jackal was admiring the clouds when it saw streaks of fire coming down out of the sky. It motioned to a nearby Grunt, who jumped onto a nearby plasma turret, but lost its footing, and slipped back down onto the ground. The second time it jumped up, it succeeded, and along with its companions opened fire on the streaks which they now identified as human drop pods. (End Song)

When the orbital drop pods hit the ground, the door was supposed to immediately fly off, allowing its occupant to quickly engage the enemy. This was not the case for Six, whose door was stuck. "Just my luck." He stiff-armed it and it still would not open. That's when he noticed the red buttons on the inside. He determined that these were for manually opening the door. After he had pushed all four, the door blew open. He quickly grabbed his MA5B Assault Rifle, slung his M392 DMR over his back for later, and ran to join the fight.

When Six found the other Spartans, all the enemies were already dead, save for a Major trying to sneak up on the Chief. Six ran up to it, jumped on its back and snapped its neck. Its dying screams alerted the other Spartans, who spun around, weapons at the ready. Six looked up at them after making sure the Major was dead. "You're welcome, Chief." "Thanks, but I could have handled it myself." "Not after it had stabbed you in the back and killed you."

The Pelicans came shortly afterwards, dropping 2 Warthogs and a company of ODSTs to keep the LZ secure. One of the ODSTs got in the gunners seat, while the Chief drove and Six sat in the side seat. As they rolled along, the ODST spoke up. "Wow. It looks just like the postcard: Dear Sarge; kicking ass in outer space. Wish you were here." Johnson came over the comm. "I heard that, jackass. Also I'm seeing a large building in the middle of this island." Cortana told him that she had seen it too. "If I were a megalomaniac, and I'm not, that is where I would be."

The group moved on until they came to a bridge that would have spanned the gap between where they were and where they needed to be, had the Covenant not retracted the bridge. Six noticed an entrance into the structure where the bridge had retracted and jumped out of the Warthog. He activated his stolen Energy Sword and ran in. The Chief went after him, only to find every Covenant being inside dead, and Six taking his Sword out of the gut of a Major. The Major fell down, deader than a box of doornails. Chief went back out, and saw a dead ODST near the entrance. "Well, that explains that."

He jumped back into the Warthog, and Six joined him moments later, after lowering the bridge into position. That was when they all noticed the Wraith tank waiting on the other side. It shot a round at the Warthog that Emile, Carter and Jun were in, and the Warthog couldn't move because it was caught between a pair of rocks. The round impacted, destroying the 'Hog and throwing all three Spartans into the air. A Pelican came in and dropped a Scorpion tank next to the destroyed Warthog. Sgt. Johnson was in the passenger bay. "One heavily armored death machine, as ordered. Thank you for shopping Air Kick-Ass." He tossed down a can of some sort. "And here's your complimentary can of whoop-ass." Jun spoke up for the first time in a while. "When did we place an order there?" "When I saw that Wraith that just destroyed your Warthog," was the Chief's response. He hopped into the driver's seat, while Six manned the machine gun, and the rest hopped onto the sides. Carter pulled out his Rocket Launcher, loaded a fresh magazine, and used both tubes to destroy the Wraith.

The team moved on until they found an area of ruins thick with Covenant. The Chief shot one round into a group of 5 Grunts and 2 Elite Majors, killing all of them. Six opened fire at one of the plasma turrets around the perimeter. Emile loaded the "can of whoop-ass" into a Grenade Launcher he had found, and fired at one of the other turrets. The explosion was 5 times the size and strength of a normal grenade, completely obliterating the turret and the lowly Grunt operating it, plus 4 nearby Elites, one of them an Ultra. The Chief looked at Emile. "How did you know that was for the GL?" "I didn't. It just fit right, so I used it."

They moved on, eventually coming to a temple-like structure in the middle of the lake. Cortana spoke up. "Good, still no word of _In Amber Clad _on the Covenant Battlenet. It's strange: The Covenant know we landed, yet they don't see us as much of a threat. Boy, are they in for a surprise." A Pelican flew overhead and dropped off 6 pods, each containing a different weapon. Emile notice in one there was a pair grenade with a note tied to one that said, "Dear Spartans, make that damn Prophet regret ever messing with humanity. From Johnson." "Hey guys, we got another present from Johnson." Six looked at him. "Tell me it isn't another one of his 'cans of whoop-ass'." "I think they are." "Perfect." "Do you want it?" "No, I just think it's a little overpowered." Johnson came over the comm. "I heard that, and I must say, Six, that that…" He fake-cried a little. "…That hurt my feelings. NOT! Get over it and put the damn thing to a good cause, soldier!" Emile keyed his comm. "Abso-frickin-lutely, Sergeant."

They all got as much ammo as they wanted to carry, including the "can of whoop-ass" for Emile, and moved into the structure, expecting to find the Prophet. What they found was a holo-image of him, and 4 Elite Honor Guards around it, 2 wielding Energy Swords, the other 2 dual-wielding Plasma Rifles. Six and the Chief drew their Swords, (Chief had found one a little while back), and lunged at the sword-wielding Guards, while the other Spartans exchanged fire with the other Guards.

Emile contemplated using one of the grenades, but since he only had two, and it would probably kill everyone in the room, he decided against it. So he rushed one of the Guards with his shotgun, and blew it into whatever it called oblivion, while the other joined it as a pair of 14.5X114mm AP-FS-DS round flew through its head.

On the other side of the room, Six and the Chief were having a bit of trouble with the two Sword- wielding Honor Guards. Six had been thrown on the floor and was trying to stop the Elite from ending his life, and the Chief, having lost his sword, was trying to stab the Guard with his combat knife. Emile threw his kukri at the Guard that Six was fighting, stabbing it through the eye and into its brain, killing it instantly, while Carter, having snuck around the back of the other, jumped on its back and snapped its neck. Emile helped Six up and retrieved his kukri from the Elite's eye.

As the group moved out, Cortana stopped them. "Wait, go back." Chief put her chip down near the holo-image of the Prophet. "That's what I thought he said." She turned to the Spartans. "The Prophet of Regret is planning to activate Halo!"


	11. Chapter 11

Chapter 11- To Kill a Prophet

**Authors Notes- Chapter 10 was one of the hardest so far to write, so I'm happy that's done. Now I just need to finish this part, and it's on to the Arbiter… FINALLY! I have waited so long to write for him. But, I digress. As always, Rate and Review, and check out the forum. It's there for your ideas for the book. I need moderators, so PM me if you're interested, because I don't have an internet connection all the time, and therefore can't moderate all on my own. I also need betareaders, so PM me if you're interested in that, just if you do betaread, DON"T SPOIL IT FOR EVERYONE ELSE! For now, though, enjoy the sort-of novelization of Regret.**

"The Prophet of Regret is planning to activate Halo!" The Spartans all looked at Cortana, astounded at what she had just said. The Chief asked her if she was sure, so she snapped her fingers, and, like magic, the holo-image had audio. The Prophet of Regret's image said, "I shall light the holy ring, release its cleansing flame, and burn a path into the divine beyond!" Cortana snapped her fingers again, and the image stopped. "Pretty much." The Chief keyed his comm. "Commander, we have a problem." "So I hear, but from what I understand, the Prophet will need an object, the Index, to activate the ring. I've located a Library similar to the one you found on the first Halo. If the rings work the same way the index should be inside." Johnson joined the conversation. "I'll bet the Covenant are thinking the exact same thing." "Then we better beat them to it, Sergeant. Extract your men and meet me at the Library." "Yes ma'am." "We'll secure the Index, Spartans; you take care of the Prophet. He's given us all the intel we need."

The Chief picked up Cortana's data chip and put it back in his helmet, and the group moved out. Before they got out of the room, a group of Drones flew in. When the bugs were all swatted, the team moved out again, moving toward the center of the lake, where they believed Regret to be. Before they could get on a gondola to take them to the structure where Regret was, a Phantom dropped off a pair of Hunters. Six looked at Emile. "Now would be a very good time to use one of those 'Cans of whoop-ass'." The Hunters put a stop to that, barreling their way along and making it impossible to get a good shot without killing at least one of the Spartans. "I can't without killing at least one of us." "Perfect. Just hellishly perfect." Six grabbed a plasma grenade, primed it, and threw it at the back of one of the Hunters. It stuck right in an area of exposed flesh. It detonated, majorly injuring the Hunter it had stuck and pissing off both.

As they ran at Six, a grenade went off beside the Hunters, killing both. Six turned to the source, and saw Emile holding a smoking Grenade Launcher. "Thanks for the clear shot." "No problem. Next time, though, tell me when you're going to use one of those things." When the grenade had blown up, Six's shields had been completely drained due to his proximity to it. The Spartans got on the gondola, but before they could activate it, a Pelican flew in overhead and dropped off 6 pods, each filled with weapons, including a prototype Sticky Detonator(not like the one in H4, but similar. It does not have the monitor on the side to see what is around the explosive.) The Chief took that, while the others restocked on ammo for their weapons, or at least the ones that were dropped, as Emile could find no grenades for his Launcher, overpowered or not.

They reentered the gondola and activated it. They got no more than 50 yards before a group of Drones beset them. The Chief pulled out his SMG and rained bullets onto them, dropping 5, but leaving at least 10 unharmed. "Fuck this." The Chief dropped his SMG, and pulled up a Rocket Launcher from one of the three pods that had landed on the gondola, and fired both tubes, killing all the rest of the Drones. Six looked at the Chief. "Nice shots." The Chief ignored him and focused on seeing if there were any more threats up ahead. He saw another gondola approaching, carrying 4 Elite Rangers. The gondolas stopped next to each other, and the Elites all jumped into the air, using EVA packs to stay aloft.

After killing all of them, including one being shot through the head with a 14.5X114mm AP-FS-DS round, Six inspected one that had fallen onto the gondola. Emile walked up beside him. "What are you doing?" "Trying to find a way to detach this thruster pack, it may come in handy." "Okay, but when it blows up, don't come crying to me." "I won't. I'll just find another pack." He found a way to detach it, and slung it over his back. It didn't fit comfortably, due to it being made for Elites, but it fit tightly. "Stand back, everyone. I'm going to test this." His armor initiated an uplink to the pack, and he keyed the activation light. The pack activated and threw Six forward and into the ground. "Okay. Did not see that coming." Cortana spoke up. "Chief, hand me to him. I may be able to help." The Chief took her data chip out of his helmet and gave it to Six, who put it in his helmet. Cortana examined the schematics of the pack. "I see. Six, you need to turn the thrust level down if you want to use this like a jet pack. Otherwise, you can use this to get a quick burst of speed. Handy for getting away from Johnson's grenades. And Elites with swords. The only downside is that neither last forever. The Elites must have something to help them stay aloft indefinitely" "How can I control which direction I want the thrusters to push me?" "Simple, just lean that way." "Okay. Thanks."(Yes, Six just invented the thruster pack from H4.) He removed Cortana's data chip and gave it back to the Chief.

The gondola came to a stop at a tower on one of the sides of the lake. The group moved in, aware that this was not their final objective, but figuring that this would take them to it. They entered a room that had a hole in the middle, and a shitload of Jackals and Drones and Grunts (Oh, my!). The Drones took to the sky, or at least what constituted the "sky" in an enclosed space, and rained down plasma on the Spartans. Carter "pulled a Chief" and used both rockets from his launcher to kill all of them, while Six used his new thruster pack to close the distance between him and a Jackal. He slammed his fist into the Jackal's face, caving it in with his strength plus the added force of his thruster pack. He threw one of his plasma grenades, sticking it to the knee of one of the other Jackals. It freaked out, running towards its companions in a way that said: "Get this fucking thing the hell off me!" The grenade detonated, killing 4 of the 5 remaining Jackals. The last one suffered the same fate as so many Elites, taking a 14.5X114mm AP-FS-DS round through the head. Six turned to Jun. "I thought you only used that thing on Elites?" "I couldn't resist that great of a shot."

An elevator came up out of the hole in the middle of the room moments later. Cortana observed that the elevator would likely take them to another tower that would connect to their objective. "unless you guys would rather swim." Emile took a step back. "I'm not getting in that thing." Six turned to him. "Why? Scared." "No. Claustrophobia." "Come on, you rode in that drop pod just fine." The Chief turned to them. "Actually, he was freaking out the whole ride down. You just didn't hear it." Six turned back to Emile. "Would you rather just suck it up and get in, or let that son of a bitch Prophet activate the ring and kill us all. Worse, you'd be letting Johnson down by not putting those damned grenades to a good cause." "Okay, I'll get in. But only because I don't want to let Johnson down. And because I want to kill a Prophet."

They all got in the elevator, or whatever it was, and the Chief activated it. It dropped slowly, and then stopped for a moment before plunging into the lake. Cortana informed the group that she had intercepted a secure transmission from Regret's carrier to something called "High Charity". "It seems to be a formal apology to the Prophets of Truth and Mercy. Apparently, Regret jumped the gun when he attacked Earth. He's asking the other Prophets to 'forgive his premature arrival.' Claiming that 'no human presence was foretold'. That explains why there were so few ships in his fleet, but it's odd that a Prophet would have such bad intel on his enemy's homeworld."

The elevator started to ascend, and when it reached the top, Emile breathed a sigh of relief. The door stayed closed for a while. Six looked at the door. "Wasn't it supposed to open when we reached the top?" The Chief looked over at him. "Guess it must be stuck." Emile looked at the door, then at the Chief. "Oh no. I am not being in here one moment longer than I need to be. Clear a path. I'm going to break down the door." The others moved to the sides, and Emile kicked the door, but it didn't budge. He looked at Six. "Use your thruster pack to help bash the door open." "Why not just break the glass and go through there?" "That works." Emile kicked out the glass windows, and the team exited the elevator, now inoperable. They moved through, coming to a room with 5 Grunts in it. Carter and Six pulled out their DMRs and killed 4 with headshots. Six looked at the dead Grunts. "They should really make it so that the Grunts eject confetti and say 'Yay!' when they are shot in the head." Carter looked at him. "Why?" "I don't know, so that we know the difference between a headshot and a neck shot." They moved on, finding the last Grunt hiding behind the other staircase. Six threw his knife at it, sticking it in the Grunt's eye.

He retrieved his knife, and the group moved into another room, this one much larger. It hosted a pair of Hunters, a pair of sword-wielding Elite Honor Guards, 4 Jackal Snipers, and a few Drones. The Chief took out the prototype Sticky Detonator and fired it at the Hunters, killing one that it stuck and injuring and pissing off the other. Six stabbed one of the Honor Guards in the back and stole its Energy Sword, then charged at the other, wielding both Swords. Jun shot one of the Snipers through the eye, and another through its long, pointy nose. Emile stole Carter's Rocket Launcher and "pulled a Chief", using both rockets to kill the Drones, and Carter, taking his Rocket Launcher back, reloaded and shot the other Hunter, killing it and sending it flying about 5 feet back. Six, now dueling the other Honor Guard, lost one of his Swords, then used his thruster pack to punch the Guard in the face, which sent it reeling and allowed Six to stab it in the neck and kill it. He picked up his other Sword and joined the others as Emile tortured the last Jackal. "Emile, just kill it already." Emile stabbed his kukri into the Jackal's neck, then pulled it out and moved on with the group.

They came to another area like the one they entered just after they left the elevator-like thingy. This time though, there were no enemies, at least that they could see. A shot rang out and a Stealth Elite dropped and its camo module failed as a 14.5X114mm AP-FS-DS round flew through its head. Mysteriously, the Elite was missing part of its head. Carter turned to Jun. "How did you know that it was there?" "I saw a twitch of the light and blew its fucking head off." "Oh." Six drew his knife and threw it. It stuck right in the mouth of another Elite that then dropped dead. Carter pulled out his DMR and shot another Elite in the throat, which was one of the unshielded places on it. Emile ran up and shot a pair of Grunts in the head with his shotgun, while the Chief pulled out his Battle Rifle and shot three Grunts in the head. With one burst. Another Elite ran out of a door at the other end of the room, this one wielding an Energy Sword. Six activated one of his and threw it at the Elite. It stuck in the Elite's stomach. Six ran up and stabbed the Elite in the face with his other sword, then retrieved the Sword from its gut. "Damn, both are low on charge." He dropped both swords and picked up the Sword from the fallen Elite. Six's HUD showed that it had a 100% charge, enough for 10 kills. "Now then, that's better."

Six grabbed his knife from the first Elite he had killed, and the group moved on into a room… containing another elevator-like thingy. Emile, surprisingly, was the first to get in. Six went in next. "Finally got over your claustrophobia?" "No. I'm just imagining being in a big, open area." "Oh, okay. Good luck with that." The rest entered, and the Chief started the "elevator." As the group traversed the lake bottom, Cortana informed them that Regret's Carrier had received a response from High Charity. "A very well-encrypted message from the Prophet of Truth. Listen to this 'Your haste has jeopardized the fulfillment of our Covenant, threatened our grand design. That you shall be spared a public display of our contempt is thanks only to Mercy's wise counsel.' Truth, Mercy, Regret, three Prophet hierarchs. Killing Regret might shake up the Covenant leadership a bit, but frankly, it sounds like you may be doing Truth a favor."

The "elevator" reached the top, and this time, the door worked. Emile stepped out, and saw an Elite Honor Guard walking away from where they were. He walked up behind it and slit its throat with his kukri, then shot another with his shotgun. When he reloaded, he remarked, "Damn, only 12 shells left. Better find more soon. How's everyone else doing on ammo?" The Chief replied that he had one spare magazine for each of his SMG's, and 2 spare mags for his Battle Rifle. Carter had 1 spare mag for his DMR, and no more spare rockets. Jun had 1 spare clip for his Sniper Rifle and 2 spare mags for his SMG. Six had 2 spare clips for his DMR and a 60% charge on his plasma rifle, plus his fully charged Energy Sword. "I don't know what happened to my assault rifle, but I have 4 spare clips for that, too." Carter looked at him. "Those can be used in your DMR when you turn it to automatic fire, so save them." "Oh, never knew that." "You do now, Six. Let's get moving." Six thumbed the mag release on his DMR, slotted an assault rifle mag, thumbed the fire selector switch to "automatic", and joined the group.

They moved on, finally coming to the surface, which was beset by Jackals and Drones and Elites (Oh, my!). Jun shot one of the Elites, a Major, through the head with a 14.5X114mm AP-FS-DS round. Six blasted a group of Drones with his AR/DMR, killing about 15 before needing to reload. Emile blasted a Jackal with his shotgun, while the Chief pelted an Elite with his SMGs. Carter sniped 3 Drones with his DMR, leaving 2 alive, which the Chief shot with his SMGs. "Damn, last mags." Jun looked over at the Chief. "You can have my spares. It not like I'm going to use them." He handed the spare SMG mags to the Chief. "Thanks, Jun."

They made their way to the gondola that would take them to the structure where Regret was, and when they arrived, a Pelican pilot came over the comm. "This is going to be my last run. I'm almost out of fuel. Oh, by the way," he opened the hatch and dropped a box down to Emile. "the Sergeant wants you to have that." Emile opened the box, and found another one of Johnson's 'cans of whoop ass', this one with another note in it. "Spartans, this grenade is packed to the brim. I don't know how big of an explosion it will make, but I know it will be pretty fucking big. Make that son of a bitch Prophet regret ever declaring war with us. Johnson"

Emile looked at the others. "Johnson sent us a really big can of whoop ass." Cortana asked to examine the grenade, so Emile handed the grenade to the Chief. "This grenade will explode as soon as it is fired. The explosion will be about 10X the size and strength of one of his regular grenades." Emile looked at the group. "Does anyone have any duct tape and some rope?" Six pulled out a roll of duct tape and a bundle of string. "Sure do. Why?" "I'm going to use this thing to clear that platform." "You're nuts." "Probably, but at least none of us have to use it in our hands." "Good point. Just make sure you use the one he already gave you first." "Of course I will." He loaded the last of Johnson's regular grenades into his GL, and then grabbed as many shells for his shotgun as he thought he needed. This equaled about 60 shells.

The rest of the group loaded up on ammo and then moved to the gondola-type thingy. The Chief started it, and Emile moved to the front, waiting for the right time to use his last regular can of whoop ass. When the structure's Covenant defenders came into range, he fired, killing all of them and obliterating the turrets defending it. Emile loaded the big can of whoop ass, then ran to the entrance and taped it down and tied the string to the trigger. Just then, the group heard pops coming from above, and saw Covenant Super-Carriers, too many to count, coming out of Slipspace. They were followed by a gigantic city-like ship, which the group assumed to be High Charity. Cortana spoke up. "That's the largest Covenant fleet I've ever seen, the largest _anyone's_ ever seen. Let's kill Regret before it can stop us."

Just then, a large group of Covenant easily comprised of 50 Grunts, 10 Jackals, and 5 Elites, came out of the Entrance to the structure. The Spartans all retired to a safe distance, and Emile pulled the string. "This is going to be one hell of a bang!" The grenade blew up, killing all of the hostiles, and blowing a hole in the structure that led directly to the center room, where the Spartans found the Prophet of Regret, surrounded by 5 Elite Honor Guards, all of which were still recovering from the blast. Six ran up and stabbed all 5 with his Energy Sword before they could recover, and was promptly blasted by a pulse laser from Regret's gravi-chair thingy, sending the III down to the floor. "Wow that hurt." The Chief pulled out his Sticky Detonator, reloaded it, and fired at Regret. The explosive stuck to the hierarch's chair, and when it went off, it killed the Prophet and destroyed his chair. Cortana warned the group that the carriers had launched a wave of Phantoms, too many for even her to count. Six said, "That's bad. Really bad. Let's get out of here. NOW!"

The group ran for the hole Emile had blown in the structure, and when they got out, they looked up and saw a carrier, quite low in orbit, start to charge its cleansing beam. Carter yelled, "Drop your weapons and ammo; they'll only slow you down!" The Spartans dropped everything, except Six, who kept his Sword and thruster pack. The Spartans took off just as the carrier began glassing the area in an attempt to kill them. They ran until the pathway dropped into the lake. The group jumped off the platform, into the waters below. The impact knocked all of them, except Six, who had used his thruster pack to slow his descent, out cold. Tentacles came out of the water and grabbed them all, pulling them down, and Six heard a deep voice say: "This is not your grave. But you are welcome in it."


	12. Chapter 12

Chapter 12: The Arbiter

**Author Notes- Finally, I get to write for Thel! (That's the Arbiter.) You guys are all favoriting and following, but not reviewing. Are you scared, or what? I need reviews, not more followers. At last check, 8-19-13, I had 9 reviews. NINE reviews. And none since at least chapter 8. WTF? I REQUIRE FEEDBACK! I was going to bring back the **_**Spirit of Fire**_**, but since you guys can't be bothered to say anything, I guess I won't now. I sounded like a total asshole right there, and I apologize, it's just that you guys follow and favorite, but don't leave feedback for me. I may still bring back **_**Spirit of Fire**_**, but it's on the fence. I'm going back to school soon, 8-28-13, and I may also discontinue the story when I do until Thanksgiving Break. I need to know whether you guys want me to continue with it or not. Also, I tried to get on the forum and had trouble. To get on, you need to go to my profile. I don't know why. Sorry. For now, enjoy the sort-of novelization of Sacred Icon.**

_**Covenant Holy City, High Charity. Sanctum of the Hierarchs**_

As Thel' Vadamee, now known only as 'The Arbiter', walked towards the hierarchs chambers, he noticed Elite Honor Guards being stripped of their armor by Brutes, most likely due to the Prophet of Regret's death. When he walked in, he saw an Ultra, R'tas' Vadumee, in a heated discussion with the Prophet of Truth.

"This is unprecedented, unacceptable." "A hierarch is dead, Commander." "His murderers were within our grasp! If you had not withdrawn our Phantoms…" "Are you questioning my decision?" "No, Holy One. I only wish to express my concern that the Jirhalnahe…" "Changing the Guard was a radical step, but recent events have made it abundantly clear that the Sangheli can no longer guarantee our safety." "I shall relay your decision to the council." R'tas walked away, and the two other Sangheli Minors with him followed.

The Prophet of Truth noticed the Arbiter, and seemed relieved. "Politics, how tiresome." Do you know, Arbiter, the Sangheli have threatened to resign? To quit the High Council because of this… exchange of hats?" The Arbiter walked forward until he was in front of the Prophet of Truth. "We have always been your protectors." "These are trying times, for all of us." The hierarch next to Truth, the Prophet of Mercy, now spoke. "Even as the human's annihilation filled us with satisfaction, the loss of one of the Sacred Rings wracked our hearts with grief." Truth now addressed the Arbiter again. "Putting aside our sorrow, we renewed our faith in the prophecy that other rings would be found." Truth turned around, looking out of the window to the space outside. "And look at how our faith has rewarded us." The Arbiter walked to the window and saw another of the Sacred Rings. The Prophet of Mercy addressed the group. "Halo… its divine wind will rush through the stars, propelling all who are worthy along the path to salvation!" Truth turned to the Arbiter once again. "But how to start this process? For ages we searched for some way to unlock the secrets of the rings- an Oracle. And with your help, we have found it."

The three went to the center of the room, where they found the Oracle, disabled and floating. Mercy addressed the Arbiter. "With appropriate humility, we plied the Oracle with questions, and it, with clarity and grace, has shown us the key." Mercy pushed a button on his chair, and an object, known as a Sacred Icon appeared next to the Oracle. Truth addressed the Arbiter. "You will journey to the surface of the ring and retrieve this Sacred Icon. And with it we shall fulfill our promise…" Mercy spoke again. "Salvation for all!" "And begin the Great Journey."

The Arbiter left the Sanctum and went to a Phantom that had been prepared for this journey. When he embarked, he noticed that there were no Sangheli onboard, only Jirhalnahe. The Phantom left High Charity and proceeded to the ring. Tartarus, the High Chieftain of the Jirhalnahe, told him that once the shield around the Library was down, they would go straight to it, so as to not keep the hierarchs waiting. Thel was curious as to something. "The human that killed the Prophet of Regret, who was it?" "Who do you think?" "The Demon is here?" Tartarus laughed a bit at this. "There is not just one Demon, but five. Why do you ask? Looking for a little payback?" "Retrieving the Icon is my only concern." "Ha, ha, ha, Of course." The Phantom neared where Thel was to be dropped off at, and Thel disembarked.

Almost as soon as Thel left the Phantom, a Forerunner construct rose up behind him. He turned, and brandishing his Carbine, fired three shots at it, all of which proved ineffective. The construct was hit on its side by a hail of plasma, and it flew away, followed closely by the Phantom. The Arbiter was contacted by the Jirhalnahe pilot. "Lower the shield, Arbiter! I'll pick you up when you've finished.

The Arbiter moved into the security station, at least that's what he thought it was, activated a piston that would take him further down into the facility, and was beset by a group of Forerunner Sentinels. He had dealt with these before on the planet Threshold, where he was dispatched to kill a Heretic Leader. He shot each with an overcharged Plasma Pistol discharge, and then moved further into the facility. He constantly noticed smaller versions of Sentinels, or at least what he thought to be smaller versions. These did not impede him, and all in all seemed to ignore him.

He dropped through another piston, and heard what sounded like Needler and Plasma Pistol shots. He moved toward the sounds, and found an Unggoy (Grunt) and a Kig-Yar (Jackal) fighting three Sentinels. The Arbiter shot two of the three with overcharged Plasma Pistol shots, and dispatched the third with a Carbine shot to the eye, or at least, that glowing part in its center. The Unggoy noticed Thel's actions and said, "Arbiter, our savior!" The Kig-Yar said nothing. The Unggoy turned to it. "Stupid Kig-Yar, say thank you!" The Kig-Yar remained silent. The group moved along, finding a long catwalk-like structure. As they navigated it, Tartarus contacted Thel. "You're getting close to one of the shield generators. Many of my Jirhalnahe have fallen trying to get to it. Let's see if you fare any better."

The three moved on, dispatching a few Sentinels that got in their way, and came to another piston. Thel activated it, and they all dropped through. When they landed, another Unggoy (Grunt) came up to the Arbiter. "Big, scary things! Please, don't make me go back!" Thel continued on and, in spite of its protests, the Unggoy followed him. Thel noticed that the Sentinels deployed from small, door-like structures on the sides, and that just before a Sentinel was deployed, the structure made a distinct sound. Thel threw plasma grenades at the openings, and disabled them as he went, minimizing his engagements with the Sentinels.

Thel dropped through another piston, and found himself in a large room, guarded by one of the constructs he had encountered when he first landed. The others did not follow him this time. Tartarus told him that he was near the power source for the generator. "Find a way to disable the locks holding it in place." He activated his Active Camouflage, something that all Sangheli Combat Harnesses had, and snuck into the room. The camo was not perfect, however. Even though he could move as fast as he wanted and remain perfectly invisible, it only lasted a short time, and unlike the newer Harnesses, combat disrupted his field. He snuck around the back of the construct, what Tartarus had called an "Enforcer", and threw two plasma grenades at its back. When the grenades blew, the Enforcer was separated into three, very inoperable parts. He moved around the room, deactivating the locks around the power source. When he had disabled all four, the center rose up, and he saw a monitor appear on the top. He deactivated the containment shield around the Library. Then waited for something to happen.

The platform that he and the power source dropped down then started to move ahead. What Thel had thought was a wall turned out to a large set of doors. The Phantom flew ahead of him, and he received a transmission from Tartarus. "Our path to the Library is clear. We'll pick you up on the ledge ahead." The platform continued to move forward towards Thel's extraction point. Just as Thel embarked the Phantom, the wall ahead opened and another Enforcer came at them. Tartarus yelled at the pilot to get them out of there, and the Phantom took off towards the Library.

The Phantom dropped him in near a Covenant camp on the other side of the wall. When he arrived, he saw his allies, Sangheli this time, engaged in battle with the Flood, including one very familiar Commander. "Arbiter, what are you doing here?" They all heard screams, the telltale sign of a Flood attack. "We must hold this camp if we are to survive." The Flood came soon after, and was repelled almost as quickly, due to a Phantom flying in overhead. One of the other Sangheli remarked, "Cursed Parasite, it does not give up easily!" R'tas yelled at him, "Indeed, brother!" When this final wave had been dealt with, R'tas disembarked the turret he had been using and walked up to the Arbiter.


	13. Chapter 13

Chapter 13- The Arbiter, Part 2

**Author's Notes- We're halfway done with the Arbiter's final mission, which is ironic that it occurs on such an unlucky chapter. Anywho, as always Rate, Review, and post on the forum. That's what I started it for. I'll probably finish up the H2 section before school starts, but after that, expect updates only about once a week. Sorry. Enjoy the sort of novelization of Quarantine Zone.**

The Arbiter walked toward R'tas Vadumee, the Commander of the Sangheli forces here. "In the center of this zone is a Sacred Icon critical to the Great Journey. I must find it." "Then we shall cut into the heart of this Infestation," Het turned and addressed all the Sangheli around him. "Retrieve the Icon, and burn any Flood that stand in our way!" The Sangheli roared in agreement. R'tas turned to Thel. "The Parasite is not to be trifled with. I hope you know what you are doing."

R'tas addressed the Sangheli as Thel moved out. "Go, warriors! And fear not pain or death! Go Arbiter, I'll follow when our reinforcements arrive." Thel jumped into a Spectre that was nearby, and raced away. He entered a giant space that hosted 4 Enforcers, Sentinels, and a cluster-fuck of Flood. The Arbiter blazed through these, intent on recovering the Icon.

Thel journeyed on, moving closer to the Icon. He came across numerous Enforcers and Sentinels, as well as ungodly amounts of Flood, but kept moving on. He reached an area where the Flood were, ironically, on the defensive, he punched through the center of these forces, and made his way to a gondola-like structure that would take him to the Library. He noticed that R'tas was not far behind him. They heard more screams, and R'tas activated his Sword. "Go, Arbiter. I'll keep the Parasite at bay!" He ran off toward the screams, and Thel activated the gondola. He noticed another on the far side. "Humans! They must be after the Icon as well!" Tartarus' Phantom flew in beside the gondola. "I see that coward didn't join you. I'll try to keep the Flood off your back."

Another Phantom dropped more Sangheli. One of them ventured to the front of the platform. "The Parasite gathers for another assault! Hold your ground!" They fought off the Flood until the gondola reached the other side. "Go, Arbiter! Retrieve the Sacred Icon before the Humans do!" Thel raced off toward the center of the Library, where he knew the Icon to be. He ignored all Flood Forms as he raced on.

When he reached the center, he immediately took cover because there were two humans in there with him. One of them grabbed a vine of some sort, and lowered itself toward the Icon. It grabbed it, and Thel winced. The vine gave way, and the other human caught it. "You know, your father never asked me for help either." "The Index is secure. The two humans moved away from the hole, and one activated his radio. "Mickey, Perez, how's our exit? Mickey, Perez, come in." It turned to its companion. "We've got trouble." The one with the Index brandished two of what they called "SMGs", while the other held a "Battle Rifle". Thel cloaked and moved intent on capturing the Icon without being seen.

He vaulted over the pipe he had been using for cover and moved closer. The one with the Battle Rifle saw him, yelled, "Damnit!" and opened fire on Thel. The shots deactivated his camo, but he was already close enough to slap the Rifle out of its hands. It looked at him. "How you doing?" Thel head-butted it, and it went down. The other saw Thel and opened fire. "Johnson, you okay? Johnson?" Thel closed the distance between it and him, and slapped the SMGs out of its hands.

A gravity field appeared around the human, and it was pulled aside. Thel turned and found Tartarus had taken the Icon from the human. "Well done, Arbiter. The hierarchs will be pleased. "The Icon is my responsibility." _Was_ your responsibility. Now it's mine. You and the rest of you disgusting race shall die. And I, Tartarus, Chieftain of the Brutes, shall be the one to kill you, Arbiter!" "When the hierarchs learn of this, they will take your head!" "'When they learn', fool, they ordered it." And with that, Tartarus slapped the Arbiter with his hammer, and Thel fell into the hole that the Icon had hovered above.


	14. Chapter 14

Chapter 14- High Charity, Part 1

**Authors Notes- We're almost done with the H2 section of the book! As always, Rate, REVIEW! DO IT NOW, I DON"T CARE WHAT YOU"RE DOING, THIS IS MORE IMPORTANT! And post on the forum, PLEASE! I REQUIRE FEEDBACK! (It's official, I have become like a smart AI after 8 years of service. If you don't know what that equates to, play Halo 4, [clears throat, assumes Jackie Chan accent] you will understand, my young grasshoppers.) For now, enjoy the sort of novelization of… Gravemind… Dun-dun-Duuuuuuuuuuuuuuuun!**

Far below the surface of the Halo ring, 5 Spartans and an Elite stirred to find themselves in an audience with a creature far beyond their wildest nightmares. One of the Spartans, the Master Chief was more open than the rest. "What… is that?" The creature responded. "I? I am a monument to all your sins." Six looked at it in recognition. "You're the thing that dragged us down here!" The creature ignored Six and pulled the Elite and the Chief towards it. The Elite was struggling fiercely. The Chief looked at it. "Relax; I'd rather not piss this thing off." "Demon!"

The creature lifted the Spartans towards it. "These ones are machine and nerve; and have their minds concluded…" It lifted the Elite. "This one is but flesh and faith; and is the more deluded." The Elite glared at the creature. "Kill me or release me, Parasite, but do not waste my time with talk!" "There is much talk, and I have listened, through rock and metal and time. Now I shall talk, and you shall listen." It lifted up two figure, one that looked like the Monitor from the first ring, and one that looked like the Prophet the Spartans had killed.

The Monitor spoke first. "Greetings, I am 2401 Penitent Tangent. I am the Monitor of Installation 05." The Prophet spoke next, though it sounded like it was in a great deal of pain. "And I… I am the Prophet of Regret, councilor most high… hierarch of the Covenant." 2401 Penitent Tangent addressed the Spartans. "Reclaimers? Here? At last. We have much to do. This facility must be activated if we are to control this outbreak." Regret addressed the Monitor. "Stay where you are… Nothing can be done until my sermon is complete!" "Not true. This installation has a successful utilization record of 1.2 trillion simulated and 1 actual; it is ready to fire on demand."

Regret addressed the Elite. "Of all the objects our Lords left behind, none are so useless as these Oracles! They know nothing of the Great Journey!" The Monitor rebuked Regret. "And you know nothing of containment. You have demonstrated a complete disregard for even the most basic protocols!" The creature spoke again. "This one's containment…" It gestured to the Monitor. "And this one's Great Journey are the same." It addressed the Elite. "Your Prophets have promised you freedom from a doomed existence, but you shall find no salvation on this ring. Those who built this place knew what they wrought. Do not mistake their intent, or all shall perish, as they did before." The Chief looked at the Elite. "This thing is right, Halo is a weapon. You're Prophets are making a big mistake." "You're ignorance has already destroyed one of the Sacred Rings, Demon. It shall not harm another!"

The creature spoke again. "If you will not hear the truth, then I will show it to you. There is still time to stop the key from turning, but first it must be found." It held up the Chief, Six and Jun. "You three will search one likely spot…" It held up the Elite, Carter, and Emile. "And you three will search another. Fate had us meet as foes, but this ring will make us brothers!" And with that, the creature flicked the tentacles holding the six, and they all teleported to their destinations.

_**Covenant Holy City, High Charity**_

The three Spartans, the Chief, Jun, and Six, were teleported into the Covenant city, High Charity. More specifically, into the room where the Prophet of Truth was addressing the Covenant on the finding of the Index. The Chief looked at a nearby Grunt. "Boo!" The Grunt squealed in terror and threw its Needler into the air. The Chief caught it, and aimed it at Truth. The Brute Honor Guards to either side of the Prophet put their spears between the Demons and their hierarchs. Truth looked at the Spartans with a look of disgust. "Kill the Demons!" Six looked at the Prophet. "What the fuck did you say about me?" The platform that the hierarchs were on lowered, leaving the Spartans to deal with the Brute Honor Guards.

Since neither Six nor Jun had any weapons, theirs being lost in the lake along with the Chief's, the Master Chief was forced to deal with the Brutes alone, or so he thought. Six and Jun snuck around to the Brute's backs and stabbed them in their necks simultaneously, so as to not piss one off at its pack brother's death. Six and Jun each grabbed a Brute Plasma Rifle, and as they did, a group of Brutes and Grunts came out of the side entrances. Six threw his knife at a Brute, stabbing it in the eye and killing it, while Jun and the Chief blasted another with their weapons. When all the enemies were dead, Cortana told the Chief to put her down on one of the pedestals near the far door. He did, and she informed the group that Truth had the Index. She opened the doors, and the group proceeded further into High Charity.

As they went along, Cortana discovered a number of marine IFF tags below them. They journeyed down to the brig, or whatever it was, and found 2 groups of marines. After they had freed the marines, they went back up the gravity lift that had taken them down the lift. The Chief found an Energy Sword, which reminded Six that he still had his, plus his thruster pack. Cortana asked him how he could have forgotten about a jet pack on his back. "It's been a long day, what with hard-dropping onto the ring, killing a Prophet, having an intelligent conversation with the Flood, and being teleported here." The door in front of them opened and a lone Brute came through, chased by a group of Elites.

The Chief struck down the Brute, and was about to kill the Elites, when one of the Elites yelled to its allies, "Stop! Do not fire! the Demons share our goals: slaughter of the Brutes and the traitorous Prophets." The Elite turned to the Spartans. "Come with us, Demons, we shall slay the traitors Truth and Tartarus as allies, not as enemies!" Six turned to Jun. "What the hell just happened?" "We just gained an entire species worth of allies."

The group, now including 5 Elites, moved through towards the far tower, where Truth and Tartarus were supposed to be going. They came to a quartet of Honor Guards, who immediately sought to attack the Spartans, only to be stopped by the same Elite. "Stop, the Demons are with us, and we share mutual goals." The Honor Guards joined the group, and they soon came across another pair, who immediately assumed that the Spartans were working with them, and joined the group, which had grown to also include a pair of Hunters.

The group, now more like an assault force, for it had grown even more, adding 4 more Elites, but losing a Hunter and an Honor Guard, entered a large room where a group of 3 Elite Ultras were fighting a group of Brutes. Six drew his Sword, and he launched himself, using his thruster pack, into the middle. He killed one Brute, and then lured another onto the blade of an Ultra. The Ultra looked at him, stunned. Six just nodded at it, and then helped an Honor Guard slay a pair of Brutes. The honor Guard looked like it smiled at him. The Ultras joined their group, and another pair of Hunters lumbered out of the nearby door, joining their group as well.

The force came to an open area, which the Spartans assumed was an atrium, where a group of 3 Elite Rangers were battling a swarm of Drones. The other Elites immediately engaged the Drones, killing off at least 20, but leaving at least twice that number still alive. Jun noticed a Rocket Launcher lying nearby (How did that get there… how indeed.) He picked it up and 'pulled a Chief'; he used both rockets to kill at least ¾ of the remaining Drones. The Rangers killed off the last of them, then moved ahead to act as scouts for the group. (The group now consists of 9 Elite Minors, 5 Honor Guards, 3 Hunters, 3 Spartans, 3 Ultras, and 3 Rangers. That's 26 troops in all. Shiiiiiiiiiit, that's huge.)

The Rangers contacted the Elite that had originally allied the Spartans and the Elites. "Leader, there is a lone Sangheli fighting two of the traitors up ahead." "Thank you, Ranger. Engage at your own discretion." "Yes, leader" The group moved on, and when they reached the next set of doors, the Elite looked at the Spartans. "Demons keep moving; the Honor Guards will accompany you. We will stay and keep this area clear of traitors." The Chief nodded at the Elite, and with the 5 Honor Guards, the Spartans moved through, finding the Rangers and the lone Minor fighting two Brute Honor Guards. Jun leapt forward and stabbed one through the heart with an Energy Sword he had found in a crate. The other was double-teamed by Six and the Minor: the Minor lured it towards Six, and he stabbed it up through the neck.

The Minor joined now thinned group, and they journeyed on. Cortana contacted the Chief. "Slipspace rupture. It's _In Amber Clad_!" Sure enough, the frigate zoomed on by and headed for what appeared to be the far tower. "Hailing… no response. I'll keep trying, but I'm not detecting any human life signs aboard." One of the Honor Guards looked at the Spartans. "Demons, that ship is infested with the Flood, there is no point in going after it." He turned to the other Sangheli. "It was only a matter of time before the Parasite found and infiltrated our holy city. Once we have slain the traitors, we shall return, and cleanse the Flood from our city!" The other Sangheli roared in agreement, and the group moved on.

The group mixed more when not in combat, instead of the Spartans leading the Elites; some of the Honor Guards were now conversing with the Spartans. Six was in a rather interesting conversation with one. "Why do you hate the Brutes?" "After the Prophets ordered our annihilation, Tartarus, the Brute Chieftain, took the Sacred Icon, what you call the 'Index', from our Arbiter, the most loyal subject in the Sangheli race. Retrieving it was the Arbiter's responsibility, bestowed upon him by the Prophets themselves after we found this ring. Tartarus then proceeded to kill the Arbiter, throwing him down the abyss where, only moments before, he had retrieved the Icon." "What does the Arbiter's armor look like? Before we were sent here, we found a Sangheli that looked very much different from the rest." "He wears black armor, according to our tradition, and does not have many of the functions that our armor does. His headpiece covers the entire center of his face, instead of ours, which do not cover our mouths. His combat harness does not cover his entire torso, only part of it." "We saw one just like that, alive and kicking, underneath the Library. Sounds like he was thrown there by Tartarus. Two of our other Demons went with him." "Astounding! He is alive!" The Elite turned to the other Elites. "Brothers, the Arbiter lives!" The other Elites looked at him, astounded at the news.

The Elites, rallied by the news that their Arbiter was alive, pushed on in earnest. They came to an area where two Phantoms were waiting. The Elites charged, intent on boarding the dropships and killing the Brutes and the Prophets. Just before they could board, the Phantoms took off for the ring. "Damnit!" "It is alright, brother, we shall follow them to the ring." The Chief looked at the other two Spartans.

"That Brute, Tartarus, has the Index, and Commander Keyes and Sgt. Johnson, he can activate the ring." Six looked up at him. "That's not good. We need to follow them, wherever they're going. Where are they going, exactly?" Cortana spoke up. "Maybe that Prophet over there knows." A nav point appeared on their HUDs and they turned, noticing the Prophet of Mercy at the mercy of a Flood Infection Form. The Master Chief walked up to him. "Your pal, where's he going?" "Earth… to finish what we started." The Chief pulled the Infection Form off of the Prophet, and both the Flood form and the Prophet died. The Chief stood back up. "Cortana, is there any way we can follow the Prophet back to earth? We won't do any good here?" "There is a way to reach that tower- like structure over there, which is where Truth appears to be headed." Six looked over at it. "What about the Brute? It has all the necessary components to activate the ring, doesn't it?" "If he does, I'll detonate _In Amber Clad_'s reactors, just like the Chief did to the _Pillar of Autumn_, the blast will destroy this city and the ring. Not a very original plan but we know it will work." The Chief walked over to the nearest pedestal, where Cortana's avatar appeared. He went to put his hand on the pedestal, but was stopped. "I don't want to chance a remote detonation again. I need to stay here."

The Chief looked back at the other two. "You two go with the Elites and stop that Brute, I'll follow Truth back to Earth." Six stepped forward. "Not alone, you won't." Jun, who was completely silent throughout the whole thing, stepped forward as well. "Couldn't we just contact Emile and Carter and see if they can assist the Elites, seeing as they are already helping one." The Chief looked at him. "Good point, try it and see what happens."

Jun keyed his comm. "Noble 3 to Noble 1 and Noble 4, do you copy, over?" There was silence for about 10 seconds, then, "Noble 3, this is Noble 4, I read you, Jun. What do you need?" "The Covenant have captured Commander Keyes and Sgt. Johnson and plan to use them to activate the ring. A Brute Chieftain by the name of Tartarus has just left the giant space station in a Phantom for the control room. We need to know if you can intercept him." "We will. We were on our way there anyway to find the Index." "You won't find it there; the Brute has it." Solid copy, Jun." Where are the Elite and Carter?" "You mean the Arbiter? He's gone to 'make the Brutes pay for what they have done', while Carter and I are waiting for him by a Scarab that we stole." Six had tuned in to the conversation, and at the mention of the Arbiter, he said, "I knew that was the one he was talking about!" He had forgotten that he was on the channel, which meant that Emile heard it too. "Six, what are you talking about?" "We made an alliance with the Elites, and one of them mentioned the Arbiter. They thought he was dead." Another voice, deeper, came over. "So, my brothers think me dead. They will be in for a surprise." "Emile, was that the Arbiter?" "Yeah, he just grabbed a Banshee, and Johnson is here with us too." "That's a relief." Johnson tuned in to the channel. "Those dumb apes didn't stand a chance against my beloved Corps!" There were evidently at least two marines with him, because the Spartans in High Charity heard an excited "Hoo-Rah!" as he said this. Emile told them that they had forged an alliance with the Elites as well, albeit more slowly than the Chief had.

Jun closed the channel, and just as he did, a Pelican crashed on the platform across from them. Cortana informed them that the Gravemind, the creature beneath the Library, had used them, and that _In Amber Clad_ was its intended method of delivery. "Wait, I'm reading a Slipspace rupture _inside_ the city." The Chief looked at her. "Truth is going to jump?" "No, something coming _in_." Just then, what looked like a piece of a Covenant Corvette came out of Slipspace, and crashed near them. The Master Chief looked at it suspiciously. "Another Flood-infested ship?" A large figure climbed out, and when it jumped out of the debris, Six recognized it instantly.

"No… It's Jorge."


	15. Chapter 15

Chapter 15- Old Friends, New Allies

**Author's Notes- He has returned! Not by popular demand, but rather my own wanting him back, Jorge has come back! I was surprised that no one wanted him back. "I am shocked, almost too shocked for words." As always rate and review (no I will not be going crazy about it this time, I have recovered from rampancy), and PM me if you're interested in betareading or moderating the forum, or if you want me to betaread for you. Don't be shy; I don't bite, I would be very happy to do so. I know it says I'm on hiatus, but just give me a PM, and I'll give you my email address to email the chapters to. Just one thing: if you do want me to betaread for you, please send it as a Word Document. I don't have a Mac, or the software to read that type of file. Sorry for the inconvenience. I sadly cannot moderate forums due to my lack of a consistent internet connection. Anyway, back to book matters. To address a possible review, I will not bring Kat back simply because her death could not be disputed: She was shot through the head with a Needle Rifle by a Sangheili Field Marshal. (Wort, Wort, Wort [shoots Kat in the head] YAYZ IZ HEADSHOTZ A DEMONZ!) I know I brought Jorge and Carter back, but their deaths were disputable. So enjoy the sort-of novelization of High Charity. Now featuring Jorge-052 as Jorge-the badass with the machinegun-052.**

As Jorge climbed out of the wreckage of the Corvette, or at least a part of it, he looked around, and saw three figures watching him. Recognizing them as Spartans, he walked over to see who they were. He saw two that he instantly recognized as Six and Jun, and after reading the others FOF tag, he recognized him as well. "Hello, John. It's good to see you again." "How do you know my name?" Jorge removed his helmet. "Recognize me now?" "Not really, no." "Remember whenever Mendez used to call up Number 052, and we would have to ask which one?" "That I do remember. It is good to see another II alive and well, Jorge."

Six looked at the Chief. "Wait, so your name is John?" "Yeah, what of it?" "Nothing, I just didn't know you had an actual name." "Don't you?" "I do, I just don't remember it." "(Sarcastically) Okay." Jorge walked over to Six. "Looks like Reach has kept on being good to me." "Seems so. Looks like you'll have to return the favor later." "Do you know if any of the others survived?" "Emile and Carter did, but Kat was killed by an Elite Field Marshal." "That's a shame." Jun walked over. "I hate to break up the reunion, but don't we have a Prophet to catch?" Jorge looked over at him. "What's a Prophet?" "They're the leaders of the Covenant, and one is going to try and conquer Earth." "Wait, so the Covenant found Earth?" "About two months after they glassed Reach." "Fan-fucking-tastic." John looked over at the other Spartans. "Emile and Carter are taking care of a Brute Chieftain that wants to activate the rings." "What rings?" John looked over at the pedestal again. "Cortana, do you want to explain it to him?" "I can, unless you do." "You know more about it than I do." "Okay, then."

Her avatar turned to Jorge. "The rings that the Chief refers to are an array called Halo, a weapon built by the Forerunners, an ancient race that has gone extinct, to kill of the food source of a virulent parasite known as the Flood." "And that would be?" "Any living thing that has enough mass. Humans, Covenant, whatever. We're all equally edible." "That's great news." "The rings appear to be structure a lot like Earth used to be, back about 2000 years ago. That means no gigantic skyscrapers, no settlements, nothing that isn't critical to the functioning of the rings. They also appear to have Earth-normal gravity, and an atmosphere nearly identical to Earth's before the overpopulation polluted it." "How many of them are there?" "Counting the one John blew up, 7." "So now there's only six." "Correct." She addressed the entire group. "There's a Pelican on a collision course for this pad, get off of it, NOW!" They all ran, and sure enough, a Pelican came screaming in and crashed right where they had been standing. They all saw the little sickly-green things come out of it, and they all instantly assumed the same thing, but Jorge spoke it. "That's the Flood, isn't it, John?" "Sure is. Get ready for a fight." Cortana told them that Flood-controlled dropships were touching down all over High Charity. They all moved towards a doorway that she had directed them to.

Jorge managed to pull the machine gun turret off of the downed Pelican after the Flood Forms had been dealt with, commenting that it wasn't his preferred weapon, but that it would do and the group moved on, soon coming to the gravity lift that would take them up. Cortana disabled the lift once they reached the top, and they all heard Truth over the loudspeaker. "Shall we let the Flood consume our holy city? Turn High Charity into another of their wretched hives? No enemy has ever withstood our might. The Flood too shall fail." Jorge looked at John. "Does he ever shut up?" "Not that I know of." The group moved on, coming to a transit room where several Drones and a Brute were fighting a group of Flood Combat Forms.

Jorge moved forward to kill them, but was stopped by John. "Wait, let them fight it out, then we'll kill the winner." The Flood emerged victorious against the Drones and Brute, but before they could infect the Brute, they were ripped apart by a hail of machine gun rounds. "Ha! Too easy!" The Forms that weren't completely destroyed got back up and charged at the Spartans. "Oh, shit." They heard a BANG, and a grenade flew towards the Flood Forms. When it detonated, they were ripped apart, all of them this time. The Spartans turned to the source, and found Six holding a smoking Grenade Launcher. He tossed another grenade up and down rhythmically. "Found another present from Johnson." Jorge asked him what he meant. "When we were going to kill another of these Prophets, one of the guys, Sgt. Johnson, always gave Emile grenades for these that were way more powerful than necessary." "I assume you just used one?" "No, that was a regular one. These pack way more of a punch."

Jorge just shook his head, and they moved through, coming to an open area filled with Flood and Brutes. "Now would be a great time to use that grenade, Six." "I was just thinking the same thing, Chief." He loaded the grenade, and launched it, killing all of the Brutes and most of the Flood Forms. The group did away with the rest of the Flood and moved on through. They found a gravity lift, and Cortana told them that it would take them to the Prophet's personal chambers. "Maybe we'll find out what Covie porn looks like." "Really, Six, REALLY!? "What? I'm just saying, John. Maybe we will. You don't get to be that megalomaniacal without watching LOTS of it." "Just keep it to yourself next time, Six. And don't call me John. Only _he _and Dr. Halsey can" The Chief pointed at Jorge. "Fine, fine, I won't."

They entered the chambers, and Six's thoughts about Covie porn were dashed. "So much for that idea, Six." "Sorry I said anything, Jun." Cortana told them that she couldn't delay the launch much longer, and that the next lift would take them to a conduit running to the Forerunner ship. When they reached the top, they found a pack of Brutes, supported by a Jackal Sniper, battling the Flood. When Six pulled his Sword to fight them, the Chief stopped him. "We need to get to that ship, now." Six tuned his thruster pack so that it would allow him to fly, and launched himself towards the other end of the room, where Cortana was waiting to activate a small gravity lift to allow them access to the conduit. The Chief, Jun, and Jorge were forced to fight their way across the room, killing any that stood in their way. They reached the other side, and they rode the grav lift into the conduit. Just as they were about to reach the ship, it took off and the conduit shut down, depositing them on the outer hull of the ship.

Cortana contacted them one last time before they left High Charity. "When you get back to Earth, good luck. The Chief looked back at the city. "When we finish with Truth," Cortana interrupted him. "Don't make a girl a promise, if you know you can't keep it." The ship left the city, and amidst the battle between Brute and Elite- controlled ships, jumped to Slipspace.


	16. Chapter 16, The Great Journey, Part 1

Chapter 16: The Control Room, Part 1

**Author's Notes: Chapter 18 marks the start of the Halo 3 section of the book! The book will be coming along more slowly now because school started up not long ago. But, as the wise and powerful Jack Hargreave once said, "We've come so far, you cannot fail me now!" I am considering making another fanfic once I finish with the H3 section of the book, kind of as a branch-off to the main book. More details as we approach the end of the H3 section. As always, rate and review, and post on the forum. If you can't find it, give me a PM and I will get you the web address for it. You can also PM me if you want me to do any betareading for you, but I cannot moderate forums due to my lack of a consistent interwebs connection. For now though, enjoy the sort-of novelization of Uprising. REVIEW!**

After their encounter with the creature beneath the Library, The Arbiter, Emile, and Carter were teleported to a cliff overlooking a large Forerunner structure, which Thel called the control room. "Come, Demons, the Icon must be inside." Emile did not move. The Arbiter wheeled around when he realized that he was not. "Would you rather stand around all day and let the Prophets activate this ring, thus killing us all, or put aside our differences and save both our species?" "I'd rather go alone than work with _you_." "You are a fool to think you can defeat Tartarus alone, Demon!" Carter walked back to Emile, and put his hand on his shoulder. "The Elite is right, Emile. Even if you could get to the control room, it's probably guarded by numerous Covenant forces. We need to work together to stop them. It's like I told Six when he joined NOBLE Team, 'That lone wolf shit stays behind.'" "Fine, I'll work with the split-chin."

The Arbiter made a sound like a growl of irritation. Emile turned to him, picked up a nearby shotgun, and cocked it. "Is there something else you would prefer to be called?" "You, Demon, may know me as the Arbiter." "Alright, Arbiter." No one heard him whisper, "Fucking split-jaw." The three moved on in silence, coming across numerous dead Elites but no Brutes, living or dead. At the first sight of Brutes, the Arbiter grabbed an Energy Sword from one of his dead brothers, and charged them. The Brutes turned at Thel, amazed at what they saw. "What, I thought he was dead!" This Brute was the first to die, and its pack brothers soon joined it in whatever they called oblivion. The three moved on towards a smaller structure, and a nearby door open.

An Elite came out wielding an Energy Sword. When it saw the Spartans behind the Arbiter. It ran at them. "Arbiter, watch out! There are Demons behind you!" "No, brother. They are our allies in this time of peril." The Elite's voice became graver. "Look what these Brutes have done to us, Arbiter. They have shed our brother's blood, and for that, they will DIE. If these Demons wish to help us, then I will follow you, Arbiter, and your companions." Just then, a group of Elite drop pods crashed onto the ground below them, carrying 2 Minors and a Zealot. "A Zealot. He's a little late for the party." The Zealot looked up at Emile. "I will spare your life, Demon, Only because the Arbiter tolerates your presence."

The group moved into the structure, entering a large cave-like structure. Carter noticed that the Arbiter had disappeared, along with the rest of the Elites. Just as he was about to snipe a Brute with his newly-acquired Carbine, the Arbiter appeared out of thin air, and stabbed the Brute through the chest. Carter thought, "Huh, Active Camouflage. I need to get my hands on that." The rest of the Elites did the same, and soon a firefight had ensued. Carter heard one Brute say, "The Demons are working with the scum? Warn the Chieftain immediately!" This Brute and the ones that ran to warn the Chieftain were promptly stabbed by Emile, who had taken a Sword from one of the dead Elites outside. A nearby Elite saw this, and yelled, "Good kills, Demon! I doubt I could have done that alone!"

Emile simply nodded at the Zealot, and they all moved through, killing numerous Grunts, Jackals and Drones, and Brutes. One of the Grunts ran at the group, holding a grenade from a nearby grenade launcher. "I'm gonna pop the top off a can of whoop-ass!" It was instantly rewarded with a plasma grenade to the face, causing it to run back at its Brute commander and Grunt peers, now yelling, "Get it off me! No, not again!" The grenade blew up, killing all but one of the Grunts, which cried, "No! They killed Yapyap!" This Grunt was rewarded with a swift backhand to the face, killing it instantly. "You didn't have to torture it _that_ badly, Emile." "Shove it, Carter."(Insubordination at its finest.)

The group eventually exited the structure, and Emile ran towards a Brute Captain (The ones with the flags) and ran his sword through its gut. One of the Minors heard its dying screams and remarked, "I heard that over here!" They all found Ghosts around, and Emile restocked on shotgun shells from one of the dead Brutes. They rode on, and the Arbiter, Carter, and Emile left the other Elites behind to advance closer to the control room.

The three fought their way to the canyon floor, and encountered a Brute encampment. Two Wraith tanks came in from their left, and the Arbiter abandoned his Ghost, and boarded one of the tanks. He bashed open the roof of the control hub, and threw the Brute out, but not before running his Sword through it. He entered the tank, and blasted a group of Brutes that were pinning the Spartans down. More Elite drop pods crashed down into the middle of the encampment, and the new group entered what appeared to be a Brute armory.

"Looks like the Brutes were trying to dig in here, permanently." "Why do they have such a fascination with our shotguns? This is the second time I've seen them being used by the Brutes." "Stow the bullshit, Emile, and grab more shells. You'll need them." He noticed that the Arbiter had grabbed a shotgun as well, and a fuel rod gun. "Finally accepting our weapons, eh Arbiter?" "I only use this, THING, because it is abundant here." The three moved on through a cave, destroying a Ghost and a pair of Brutes and Jackals.

On the other side, there was another Wraith patrolling around. When it saw the three, it moved over to them, and R'tas Vadumee popped out of the hatch. "I suppose that these Demons are allied with us now, Arbiter." "They are." "What has happened to the Councilors? Were they…" "Murdered, by the Brutes." "Vile, disloyal, beasts! They shall pay for what they have done this I swear!" They all saw the two Phantoms heading towards the control room, and knew that Tartarus was aboard one of them.


	17. Chapter 17

Chapter 17: The Control Room, Part 2

**Author's Notes- This is it, the last chapter of the Halo 2 section. The aftermath of this will be the start of the Halo 3 section. Rate and review, like usual, and give me a PM if you want help with a fanfic at all. I may also expand the story into the Reclaimer Saga instead of ending at the end of H4, but that is quite questionable because I will not be purchasing an Xbox One for a while for obvious reasons **_**(The price is too damn high!)**_**, but for now, enjoy the final chapter of Halo 2, The Great Journey.**

Thel Vadamee, R'tas Vadumee, Carter and Emile all watched the pair of Phantoms soared overhead, one turning around towards where they had come from, and the other stopping near the control room. The Arbiter glanced at the Wraith that R'tas had stolen. "What is that place?" "Where the Councilors were meant to watch the consecration of the Icon. The start of the Great Journey." "We must get inside." "Then mount-up, Arbiter. I know a way to break those doors."

A Spectre LRV, similar to a Warthog in purpose, pulled up beside them, and the Zealot that had been assisting them jumped out and offered the Arbiter the operator's seat. "I'll take the gunner's position." R'tas jumped back in the Wraith, and the 2 Spartans jumped onto the side seats of the Spectre. As R'tas guided them towards a tower-like structure, they came across a pair of Ghosts. The Arbiter opened fire with the plasma cannon on the back, destroying one within seconds, and the other was decimated by a direct hit from a plasma mortar from R'tas' Wraith.

They came across a Scarab waiting to be activated, and Emile pointed out the obvious. "There, that's our ticket to the control room!" "We noticed, Demon." "Arbiter, there is a path up to the Scarab in the cliff wall. I'll follow soon." "Thank you, Commander." The Arbiter and the Spartans disembarked from the Spectre, and as they came towards the doorway to the path up, they found themselves face-to-face with 4 Brutes and 2 Wraith tanks. Emile groaned inwardly. "Fuck this." He pulled the Grenade Launcher off of his back, loaded the grenade that the Grunt that had charged them and been rewarded with a plasma grenade to the face had been holding, and hoped that it was one of Johnson's.

The grenade flew straight and true, and was in fact one of Johnson's, because when it blew up, it killed all of the Covie bastards and blew up their Wraiths.

The three entered the structure, and found a pair of Hunters in the hallways ahead. "Just FUCKING perfect." "Shut up and quit bitching, Emile." "Blow it out your ass, Carter." (Another fine display of insubordination from Emile) A Sangheili jumped onto the nearby stack of crates, and upon noticing the Arbiter. Yelled at the Hunters, who had come out of the hallways and were preparing to attack the group, "Hold your fire! Hunters have come to our aid, Arbiter. They will fight by our side."

The Hunters charged into the next room, and immediately were beset by a pack of Brutes on an elevated platform. The Arbiter had already cloaked, ran up the ramp to one side, AND rammed his Sword through the gut of the leading Captain. The Brutes dying screams alerted its brothers, and they all opened fire on the Arbiter.

Carter ran up the ramp, and was nearly killed by the energy beam of one of the Hunters. "JESUS CHRIST! Tell that thing to watch where it's shooting!" The Elites and the Hunters ignored him, and Emile didn't hear him because he was too busy trying to kill the 7 Brutes that had emerged from the doorway behind them. He drove his kukri into the neck of one while simultaneously blowing the guts of another out with his shotgun. He reloaded and blew the heads off of two more Brutes, including the leading Captain. Emile jumped out of the way just as a Hunter slammed its giant-ass shield into the head of another, covering the rest in blood. This pissed them off enough to make them throw down their weapons and charge at the Hunters. Emile jumped on one's back and snapped its neck, while the Arbiter picked the other up by the neck and rammed his Sword through its gut.

The Elite and the Hunters stayed behind, while the Arbiter and the Spartans continued onto a bridge that was crawling with Jackals and Drones. "Fuck this." Carter pulled out a Rocket Launcher that he had acquired in the Brute armory, and annihilated the Drones and some of the Jackals by using both rockets. One of the Phantoms, the one that had veered off towards the Scarab, dropped into view and opened fire on the three as soon as it saw them. At the end of the bridge, the group dove through the doorway just as the Phantom pelted the area with enough plasma to turn them to glass.

The next room they came to turned out to be a detention-type area, holding 2 Sangheili Councilors and a pair of Hunters, guarded by 3 Jackal Snipers and a pack of Brutes.

The Arbiter faded from view again and proceeded to "quietly" murder all of the Brutes in the room (*cough cough* decapitation *cough cough*) while Carter and Emile sliced open the throats of the Snipers. As Emile and Carter destroyed the cell field generators, Thel was busy killing _more_ Brutes, but instead of decapitating them, he castrated them, and then left them to suffer. Carter shot each in the head twice for the satisfaction, not to end their suffering. The Councilors followed the Arbiter and the Spartans up to the platform that would grant them access to the Scarab.

"Arbiter, if you take care of those Brutes, we'll make a break for the Scarab and get it warmed up." "Alright." They heard the Captain of the group talking to another Brute over a comm channel. "…Quietly. Now, kill the rest." Carter and Emile took off in a dead sprint for the Scarab, and found a very familiar Sergeant-Major right behind them as they climbed to the controls. "What the fuck are you doing working with _that_ split-jawed son-of-a-bitch?" "It's a long fucking story, Johnson, and I don't feel like telling it right now."

They got the Scarab started up, and Johnson turned it around so that he could walk to the back and talk to the Arbiter. "Listen, you don't like me and I _sure as hell_ don't like you. But if we don't get to that control room, Mr. Mohawk is going to activate this ring, and we're all going to die." "Tartarus has locked himself inside the control room." "Well, we just happen to have stumbled onto the key. Come on, grab a Hornet and give us some cover." "I will take a Banshee and make the Brutes pay for what they have done."

Emile heard his comm buzz to life. "Noble 3 to Noble 1 and Noble 4, do you copy, over? Emile hesitated for about 10 seconds, unsure if it really was Jun. "Noble 3, this is Noble 4, I read you, Jun. What do you need?" "The Covenant have captured Commander Keyes and Sgt. Johnson, and plan to use them to activate the ring. A Brute Chieftain by the name of Tartarus has just left the giant space station in a Phantom for the control room. We need to know if you can intercept him." "We will. We were on our way there anyway to find the Index." "You won't find it there; The Brute has it." "Solid copy, Jun" "Where are the Elite and Carter?" "You mean the Arbiter? He's gone to 'make the Brutes pay for what they have done', while Carter and I are waiting for him by a Scarab that we stole." Six interrupted the conversation, and he seemed amazed. "I knew that was the one he was talking about!" "Six what are you talking about?" "We made an alliance with the Elites, and one of them mentioned the Arbiter. They thought he was dead." Apparently, the Arbiter had been listening to the conversation somehow, and jumped in as well. "So, my brothers think me dead. They will be in for a surprise." "Emile, was that the Arbiter?" "Yeah, he just grabbed a Banshee, and Johnson is here with us too." "That's a relief." Johnson and his marines had also tuned in to the channel, and Johnson proclaimed proudly, "Those dumb apes didn't stand a chance against my beloved Corps!" The marines shouted a lively "Hoo-Rah!" into the comm. Emile told them how they had also forged an alliance with the Elites, and the channel was closed.

Emile and Carter jumped out of the back of the Scarab. "She's all yours, Sergeant. We'll take a Hornet." They found said Hornet around the corner of the building, and Emile jumped onto one of the side seats while Carter took the pilot's seat. "Don't crash us into Johnson's Scarab!" "What makes you think I would?" "The last time you got near a Scarab while piloting an aircraft." "Right. Almost forgot about that."

The Hornet, Banshee, and Scarab charged towards the control room with very few problems, except for the occasional Shade Turret or Banshee air patrol. They got back to where they had started, and Johnson unceremoniously blew the doors to the control room off of the attached walls.

The Arbiter and the Spartans landed on the now smoking and burning platform and charged through the doorway into a room where there were no enemies at all. "Motion tracker shows 7 Brutes moving towards this room. Find cover now!" The three hid in a small trench-like dip that concealed their presence from the Brutes. The Brutes, finding nothing, began to chatter. "I heard that the filth are working with Demons." "DEMONS? How is that possible? They hate each other!" "Not as much as they hate us now." "I just hope that it wasn't them who blew up the door." "Of course it was, nimrod! What would you expect, a tiny group of Grunts?" "Kind of." They heard the Brute get back-pawed by the one that called it a nimrod. "They could be in here now, you know. The filthy Elites might have shared their active camouflage technology with the Demons." "CLOAKED DEMONS! Oh, Gods, don't ever let _that_ happen."

The Arbiter cloaked, ran up behind the Brute that had been back-pawed, and ran his Sword through its gut. "BOO!" The Brutes all turned at this, which gave Carter and Emile the time they needed to kill 4 more of them. The other two were so pissed by this point, having just witnessed a Killtacular medal being achieved (That's 5 kills within 4 seconds of each other), that they charged the Arbiter and were rewarded with a knife and a kukri to the back. Carter and Emile grabbed their knives and followed the Arbiter towards the control room.

Inside, they found Tartarus, along with 4 Brutes, trying to coerce Commander Keyes to activate the ring. The Arbiter stepped a little bit more towards the Brutes than the Spartans did. "Tartarus, stop." The Chieftain and his entourage turned toward the voice, and almost gaped at the sight of the Arbiter, alive and kicking. "What? Impossible." "Put down the Icon." "Put it down? And disobey the Hierarchs?" "There are things about Halo… even the Prophets do not understand." The Brutes around Tartarus gasped in shock at the Arbiter's display of heresy, and began to move towards him, but were stopped by Tartarus. "Take care, Arbiter. What you say is heresy." "Is it?" He now turned to address 343 Guilty Spark, the Oracle that Thel had captured when he had been sent to kill a Heretic Leader. "Oracle, what is Halo's purpose?" "Collectively, the seven…" he didn't finish, because Tartarus grabbed him and shook him a bit. "NOT ANOTHER WORD!" Another voice came from behind the Arbiter. "Please…" Thel and the Spartans turned to find Sergeant Johnson aiming a Beam Rifle… right at Tartarus's face. "Don't shake the light-bulb." The Brutes around the Chieftain started to move towards Johnson. "If you want your brain to stay inside your head, I'd tell your boys there to chill!" Tartarus gave a low growl, and the Brutes backed off. Johnson turned his head to the Arbiter. "Go ahead, do your thing." The Arbiter once again addressed 343. "The Sacred Rings, what are they?" "Weapons of last resort: built by the Forerunners and designed to kill off any sentient life capable of sustaining the Flood." "And, what happed to the Forerunners?" "After exhausting every tactical option, my creators activated the array and every sentient being within three radii of the galactic center… died, as planned. Would you like to see the relevant data?" There was a pause. "Tartarus, the Prophets have betrayed us." Tartarus threw 343 Guilty Spark at Johnson, forced the Index into Commander Keyes hands and forced her to start the activation of the rings. "No, Arbiter. The Great Journey has begun, and the Jirhalnahe, not the Sangheili, shall be the Prophet's escort!"

Emile immediately loaded the last of Johnson's grenades into his GL, and fired at the group. The blast killed Tartarus's guards, but barely even scratched the Chieftain. He jumped onto the firing platform, which had separated into three sections when the ring was activated, and a horde of Sangheili followed, accompanied by Noble 1 and Noble 4. The Arbiter hung back and helped Johnson snipe the Chieftain, aware of what the giant hammer that Tartarus was carrying could do. When Johnson and the Arbiter took down the shield that enveloped the Chieftain, the horde attacked and severely wounded Tartarus, but one swing of the hammer killed of almost all of the Elites, except for the Zealot that had been helping the Spartans since they were teleported. Another swing sent the Zealot careening into a nearby wall, crushing its organs and killing it instantly. The Arbiter jumped down to assist the Spartans, and almost struck the killing blow, had Carter not been such a good thrower of combat knives: the knife stuck Tartarus in the brain just as Johnson took down his shields. Unbeknownst to them, Commander Keyes was already moving in to remove the Index and stop the sequence.

The ring fired prematurely, and thus did not have enough of a charge to kill anything. The blast shut off the lights in the control room, and the group, minus the Arbiter and the Spartans, who were mopping up the last of the Brutes in the room, all convened around a nearby display, with Johnson hitching a ride on the Monitor. Keyes looked puzzled at what was on the display. "What's that?" "A beacon." "What's it doing?" "Communicating at superluminal speeds with a frequency of…" "Communicating with what?" "The other installations." "Show me." "Fail-safe protocol: in the event of unexpected shutdown, the entire system will move to standby status. All remaining platforms are now ready for remote activation." "Remote activation? From here?" "Don't be ridiculous." Johnson interrupted the exchange. "Listen, tinker-bell, don't make me…" Keyes cut him off. "Then where? Where would someone go to activate the other rings?" Spark paused, as if amazed that they did not know the answer. "Why the Ark… of course." The Arbiter and the Spartans returned. "And where, Oracle, is that?


	18. Chapter 18 (FINALLY!)

Chapter 18: Prepare to Drop

**Authors Notes- The Halo 2 section of the book is done, and now we begin with Halo 3. This has always been one of my favorite games, except for Reach. This chapter will be very long and original, save for a few spots where I draw on the game for knowledge. But for now, rate, review, and enjoy. Off Topic, sorry for the large gap between updates, this chapter was very long and tedious and hard to write.**

_Earth Defense Platform Cairo, Coordinating defense of Earth. December 25, 2552 (_Merry Christmas… NOT!)

As the Battle for Earth raged in orbit above the planet, and the Covenant secured the ruins of New Mombasa, the Forerunner Ship emerged from Slipspace and raced towards the planet. On the bridge of the _Cairo_, one of the officers turned in his chair to face Lord Hood, who was looking out of the viewport at the battle. "Sir, new contact, Unknown classification!" "Then it isn't one of ours. Destroy it!" "Yes, sir." Another officer informed him of an outbound communication from the ship. "Patch it through, Lieutenant." "Aye, sir." The speakers on the bridge buzzed to life. "This is Spartan 117. Can anyone hear me? Over." "Lieutenant, isolate that signal, now." "Already on it sir. Establishing link to Sierra 117 now. Go ahead, sir." "Master Chief, you mind telling me what you're doing on that ship?" "Sir, finishing this fight." The first officer told him that another new contact had been found. "What is it, Ensign?" "Too far away to tell, sir. Maybe the Chief can tell us." "Master Chief, we just picked up a new contact. Do you see it?" "Yes, sir. Jun, what is it?" "Looks like one of the old Phoenix-class colony ships." "That can't be right. The only two that survived the war to date are the _Crossroads of Sol_ and the _Spirit of Fire_, but both are reported MIA." "Sir, transmission, from the ship." "Patch it through, Jun" "On it." The comm unit filled with static with only a few breaks. "Mayday ~~~ This is ~~~ of the UNSC ~~~ request ~ assist ~~~~." "I can't clear it up, sir." "Alright, Jun. Chief, send one of your Spartans to secure the ship." "On it, sir."

John-117 was surveying his remaining Spartans to decide which to send to the Phoenix-class ship, when Six stepped forward. "I'll go, Chief. I'm the only one with a thruster pack to help get there." "Alright, Six. Jun, can you get a lock on the ships position and an outbound trajectory for him?" "I can try, but I'm no whiz at this stuff like Kat was." "Well, at least give it a shot." "I've got a lock! I'd guess about 60% accuracy. That's the best I can do." "I'll take it. Chief, if this goes south; it's been an honor to serve with you again." "It's been an honor for me too, James." James-005, one of the last remaining SPARTAN II's, took a running start, and with the help of his thruster pack, took a giant leap off of the back of the Forerunner ship.

Jorge skimmed through the public roster of all the SPARTAN-II's, and found that all but a few were listed as MIA or WIA. He closed the roster, and opened up the ONI logs, and found that only a handful were truly MIA, with most being KIA. One of the truly MIA Spartans was James-005, and his CSV had a file attached. Jorge opened it, and found a video from John's last mission on Reach. It showed James' EVA pack taking a hit from a Needler and the fuel venting violently when the projectile shattered, throwing James into space. He closed the file, and opened up a log of all **KNOWN** SPARTAN-II missions. He found the file, and opened a private com channel to John. "John, James is reported as MIA, says on the logs that he went missing on Reach." "I'm well aware of that." "How is he here then? This seems awfully suspicious." "It did for me too, Jorge. Then Cortana told me that Six was James just before we left High Charity." "Alright, but this still seems a little odd to me." (**Here comes a really long part. Longer than Chapter 5.**)

James reflected his last time using a thruster pack in space. He, John, and another Spartan, Linda, who ironically shared Jorge's service tag, were sent to destroy an unsecured navigation database during the Fall of Reach which would have led the Covenant straight to Earth. As the three were hunting for the ship, a Covenant carrier had deployed EVA troops, many with Needlers or Needle Rifles. The Covenant troops opened fire, filling the void with needles, one of which had hit James' EVA pack, causing the fuel to vent quite violently. He had ditched the pack, but not before being shot into orbit around Reach. He had drifted for about an hour before something had grabbed his leg and proceeded to pull him down to the planet's surface, which he found to be another Spartan, NOBLE Six. Six had been looking "up" for a while, and James followed him to find another Super-Carrier being torn into three pieces by a Slipspace bomb. The two had crashed near the city of New Alexandria, which was currently under siege by the Covenant. In the city, they learned of an ongoing evacuation at Traxus Towers. They had ventured through the sub-levels of a nearby building, and found them infested with Suicide Grunts. One of them blew up near Six, which put him flat on his ass, and weakened his shielding and disabled his motion tracker. The pair found their way out and linked up with a group of marines trying to reach the evac site. "Kilo Dispatch, this is Kilo One-Seven, we've picked up a pair of Spartans." "Kilo One-Seven, I have ONI brass bitching and carrying on in my ear about God-knows-the-fuck-what. Please repeat that." "We picked up a pair of Spartans just now." "Good to know... Sergeant, I have a Spartan Commander requesting the service tags of those two. He says that he has two Spartans that are MIA." James tapped into the chatter. "Kilo Dispatch, this is Spartan-005 along with Spartan-312 of NOBLE Team. Tell the Commander that he lost one on the Covenant Super-Carrier that they destroyed in orbit." "Will do, Spartan. Help those marines however you can. There is an ongoing evacuation at Traxus Towers. They could use your help." "Got it, sir." The fireteam had fought their way to an adjacent building to Traxus when an ODST approached the Spartans. "Spartans, I'm Sergeant Edward Buck, second-in-command of the 35th Air Tactics Squad of the 105th Drop Jet Infantry. We could use your help clearing a path to the evac site. There's a pair of jetpacks back this way." James noticed a bullfrog insignia of Buck's shoulder guard as he led the pair towards the jetpacks. Once James and Six had retrieved the packs, Buck led them out to a nearby ledge where another ODST greeted them. "Welcome to the Bullfrogs! We're gonna jump to the other building way over there. Try to keep up, swabbies." As the Spartans and their new allies were jump-jetting across to their destination, a Brute with a jumppack launched into the air and tackled James to the ground. The Brute ripped off James' helmet and promptly beat the living shit out of him. The Brute also damaged several components of his armor before Six executed it with an M6G Magnum shot to the head. James' helmet had been thrown off of the platform and down to the city streets several hundred stories below. Six helped James up and the pair made it to Traxus Towers without any more incidents. As they finished clearing the building for evac, Kilo Dispatch contacted them again. "Spartans, this is Kilo Dispatch, there's another ongoing evac a few klicks due west of your position, but they can't start because that Corvette over the city is destroying all of the transports. There's a pair missile batteries nearby that will drive off that corvette, but they're offline. I need you to get them back up and running, Spartans." "We're on it, Dispatch." A Falcon landed on the pad, and an ODST started barking orders. "Alright, boys and girls, the Spartans are leaving us to go activate the missile batteries in the nearby park. Sergeant Buck, I want you to go with them." "Sir? Wouldn't it be better if I stayed and helped keep the pad secure?" "DO NOT QUESTION MY ORDERS, SERGEANT, OR I WILL MAKE YOU GO ALONE!" "SIR, YES SIR!" "Now _that's _what I like to hear, marine!" James, Six and Buck climbed into the Falcon. "Buck, are you okay? You don't seem like you want to be here." "I don't. The reason I ended up with the Bullfrogs is because my old unit got slagged trying to defend the very battery we're going after." "Great… how long ago was that?" "About 48 hours ago." As they neared the park where the batteries were, a marine on the ground started briefing them. "Spartans, I'm Staff-Sergeant Augustus Cole, with the 22nd marine QRF. We're here to help you get those missile batteries back online, but we need to punch a hole into the park first. Covies have the place secured, so it's gonna be a fight." "Roger that, Staff Sergeant. Is there any armor in the area we can use?" "Negative, but there are a couple of Gauss Warthogs here with us." The Falcon landed practically on top of the marine QRF, and the Spartans, plus Buck, jumped out shooting, taking down a Jackal patrol pinning the marines down. A marine, presumably Cole, jogged up to them. "Man, am I glad to see you guys. Come on, the 'Hogs are this way." The trio jumped into one of the Gauss 'Hogs, while a trio of marines jumped into the other and sped off towards the park. James took off after them, and found the 'Hog a smoldering wreck after it was hit by a Wraith mortar round. "Damn, no survivors. Six, first missile battery's over there, you and Buck go activate that one, I'll get the other." "Roger." Six and Buck jumped out, and James sped off towards the other missile battery. When he got there and activated it, Six pinged him, indicating that he and Buck had done the same. "Spartans, it's Cole again. There should be an activator in the main building due north. Head on over and get those batteries firing again." "Roger that. Six, I'll meet you at the main walkway. Do you still have your jetpack?" "Of course I do, and so does Buck." "Good." A marker appeared on James' HUD, indicating where the activator was. Six and Buck joined him beneath the window where the marker was, and the trio jumped up to it. "Evac Control, this is evac transport Echo One, I got Covies all over my transport. I need to take off NOW." "Hang on, Echo One; Spartans are gonna clear the skies for you. It's now or never, Spartans. Hit the button and blow that bastard out of the sky." Six ran up to the activator, but before he could push the button, an Elite Field Marshall charged and stabbed him through his heart with its Energy Sword. "Weak and fragile Demon. Now you die." The Elite removed its Sword from Six's heart, ripped off his helmet, and decapitated Six. James, in a fit of rage, increased the thrust on his jet pack, and rocketed towards the Elite, tackling it to the ground and punching its face until it was a bloody pulp. Buck dragged him off of the mess and activated the missile batteries, driving off the corvette and allowing the evacuation transports to leave. "You saved many lives today, Spartans. Thank you. Echo One out." James heard Six's helmet comm burst with static. He walked over and put Six's helmet on. "…Noble Two. Noble Six, this is Noble Two, do you copy?" "Noble Two, this is Spartan S-005. Six is KIA, as is Noble Five." "How do you know?" "Six was just decapitated by an Elite Field Marshall, and Noble Five stayed behind on the Covenant Cruiser to detonate the bomb manually." "Alright, Spartan. We're sending in a dropship to bring you to the ONI building. Bring Six's body and armor as well." "Will do." James took off Six's helmet. "Buck, regroup with the Bullfrogs, I'm going to the ONI building to link up with his team." "You're not just going to leave him, are you?" "No. they want the body." "Okay. It's been an honor to fight with you, Spartan." "Likewise, trooper." James picked up Six's body and helmet, and walked towards the shore of the beachhead, dropping a flare when he got there. A Pelican dropship landed shortly thereafter and took him to the ONI building in the heart of the besieged city. When the dropship landed, James disembarked and another Spartan walked up to him. "I'm Carter, Noble Team's leader." "I'm James, probably one of the last Spartan II's on Reach. I'm sorry about Five and Six." "You did all you could, Spartan. For now though, let's get Six to the ONI scientists. They want to take a look at his helmet for any details they can use." James hefted Six's body over one shoulder, picked up his helmet with his free hand, and hauled both to the medical wing of the ONI building. "Put his helmet here, Petty Officer. We're anxious to retrieve the data from the Corvette that he destroyed." A little while later, the scientist walked back up to him. "Petty Officer, there's a message in the helmet that appears to be directed to you." James put on Six's helmet, and played the audio file. "James, I know that your armor is damaged beyond repair, but mine isn't. I ask that you make the scientists at ONI repair my armor and give it to you, so that you can be the soldier that I was meant to be. I'll see you on the other side of life, Spartan." James turned to the scientist. "Can you repair his armor?" "It's already done, Petty Officer. We just need to remove yours and put his on you." "Alright, do it." "Follow me please." He took James to a lab where his armor was removed and Six's was put on in a matter of minutes. "Alright, Petty Officer, take a quick walk around the lab and join me at the energy shield testing station when you're ready." After all of the tests had been run, James was called back to the top floor for the team's next mission. (**The rest you already know, so I'll stop there.** ** FINALLY!**)

James was still a ways off from the Phoenix-Class cruiser when he received a clear transmission from it. "Mayday, mayday. This is Captain James Cutter of the UNSC _Spirit of Fire_, requesting assistance from any UNSC forces in the area." "_Spirit of Fire_, this is Spartan-005 on course to intercept. How's the ship doing?" "Spartan, we've been drifting through space for 20 years. The ship is a wreck: hull breaches galore, Slipspace drive thrown out the window and the reactor has failed. I'm using my personal communicator to talk to you, so any assistance is appreciated." "Alright, Captain. I need a place to land." "The docking bays are all open, Spartan. I'll transmit the layout of the ship so that you can come to the bridge." Alright… shit. Captain, you've got a Covenant Corvette on an intercept course, starboard side. Looks like they're going to deploy boarding teams to take over the ship."

"Alright. Lieutenant Mathery! See if you can bring the reactors online at all, then ready the fireteams to defend against incoming boarders." "Yes, sir. Reactors can be pushed to 30%, no more, and even then, they'll have to be shut down in 15 minutes to prevent meltdown." "Then give me 30%." "Reactor is online, sir." "Mayday, mayday. This is Captain James Cutter of the UNSC _Spirit of Fire_ to all UNSC ships in the area. We have a Covenant Corvette approaching, and our MAC system and all Archer missile pods are disabled. We need assistance now." "_Spirit of Fire_, this is the UNSC _Gettysburg_, we'll arrive in 2 minutes to assist, hang in there." "Much appreciated, _Gettysburg_."

James landed in one of the hangar bays and found three other Spartans waiting for him there. "Let's get to the bridge, James." "Lead the way, Douglas." The Spartans of Red Team took him to the bridge, where Captain Cutter was standing at a tactical overview of the ship with a marine and a civilian scientist. "Spartan, this is Sergeant John Forge, he'll be going with you to secure the ship." "Alright. When I was outside, the corvette was about 5000 kilometers off from the ship, so they'll probably be launching transports within about 15 minutes." "The _Gettysburg _is also on station now, and they've deployed Longsword interceptors to take out some of the transports." "Sir, Covenant boarding craft have been launched! ETA is about a minute." "Scramble combat teams throughout the ship, Lieutenant. Ensign Havers, what's the status on the MAC and Archer systems?" "Archer pods 7-30 are destroyed, and all others but 1-6 are still offline. MAC system can only fire 2 rounds before critical shutdown is necessary, sir." "Remove safeties on Archer pods 1-6, and load a heavy round into the MAC system. Lieutenant Mathery, push the reactors to 50%, and divert all the power you can to charge the MAC system." "Yes, sir! Reactor at 50%, primary coolant will overheat in 5 minutes, sir." "Ensign Havers, get me a firing solution for the MAC, and fire when ready." "Yes, sir. Covenant boarding craft ETA 30 seconds." "Prepare firing solutions for the Archer pods to target those craft, Ensign." "Firing solution in 2 seconds… acquired. Firing."

The ship barely rattled as 180 high explosive missiles burst out of the pods, then shook like a tall building in an earthquake as the MAC fired its 600 ton solid depleted uranium round. James was thrown to the floor along with Sergeant Forge. James sprang to his feet and helped Forge up. "Sergeant, I need a weapon." "So do I. Let's find an armory." "Captain, permission to leave the bridge?" "For what purpose, Petty Officer?" "Weapons check and final preparations to defend the ship against boarders, sir." "Granted. I'll be in touch to give you locations on the boarding craft." "Thank you, sir." James, Forge, and the three other Spartans left the bridge to find an armory.

"Petty Officer, it's Captain Cutter. Multiple boarding craft about to impact, estimated strength at 7 craft, with 3 platoons in each." "How many were shot down?" "More than double the number about to hit." "Didn't the shipboard AI take care of the point defense, sir?" "Our AI, Serina, degraded just 3 years after we went MIA. There _is no AI_ to mount point defense." "Oh…" A bang resounded throughout the ship. "They're latched on deck 3, near port hangar bay 5. Get down there _now_." "On it, sir." On the way, the group found an armory, and Forge took only an M90 Tactical Shotgun, while James took an M395 DMR and an MA5B Assault Rifle, and the Spartans of Red Team, Jerome, Alice, and Douglas, took a Spartan Laser, a Machine Gun Turret, and a Shotgun, respectively. They each also grabbed a full load of ammo and grenades, and left for port hangar 5.

Back on the Forerunner ship, the other four Spartans were trying to find a way to leave the ship _before_ it landed and without dying on hitting the ground if they jumped off. "We could jump off onto one of the Platforms, and then take a Pelican down." "No… too much risk of missing, Carter, and we don't have thruster packs like James to correct our approach." "How about locking our armor on the way down and aiming for water?" "Jun, that's a terrible idea. First of all, we have no idea where we will descend, so we could land in the middle of a desert where there is no water. Second, there is a gigantic risk of death on impact since we don't have anything to cushion a fall from orbit. We may be crazy, but we're not ODST crazy: we don't jump from orbit with just a thin skin of armor to protect us." "Sorry I put the idea out, John." "What about hijacking a Covenant ship and stealing a Phantom down to the surface?" "That's not a half bad idea, Jorge." "_Okay_, now you're just playing favorites, John." "His idea is genuinely good, Jun." "_Riiiiiiight._" "Okay, what if the Covenant detect us and vaporize us before we even get near the ship, and even if we get on, we would need to find the hangar bay. And also, I don't expect them to just let us in and take a Phantom from them." Their comms buzzed to life. "Hey guys, it's James. That Phoenix was the _Spirit of Fire_, and I found a couple more II's and a Pelican." "Wait, the ship _is secure_, right?" "Yeah, of course." "Okay. If we jump off the back of this ship, can you swing in and pick us up?" "Sure, John." "Okay, we'll jump and drop a beacon for you." "I'll wait for your signal, boss." John cut the link. "Let's go, Noble Team." "Okay, if we're going to reform the NOBLE, then I think I'm the CO." "Fine, Commander." "Well, what are you waiting for, Noble? Let's get going!" The unofficially reformed Team NOBLE, or at least the members that were on the ship, jumped off the back, and John dropped a beacon for James to find. A few minutes later, a Pelican flew up beside them and the back door dropped open. Four Spartans stood in the doorway. "Master Chief, sir!" "Good to see more Spartans alive and kicking." "Sorry we can't accompany you any farther than the surface, sir. We're needed elsewhere on Earth. "Understandable. Tell James that he's a crack pilot." "Actually, that's not James." The intercom buzzed to life. "Yeah… name's Sergeant John Forge. UNSC marine." "Well, I'll be damned." "Let's get going. Where to, Master Chief?" "I'll be able to answer that one for you, Sergeant." "Who the hell are you?" "Name's Sergeant-Major Avery Junior Johnson. Just call me Johnson." "Okay. So where are you, exactly?" "Look behind you." The Spartans turned and found themselves staring… at a Covenant Carrier.


End file.
